What a cool weekend! I don’t know how much more we could have done in 2 days!! Our conference ended on Friday and since we were in such a cool spot, everyone wanted to explore. All but 4 of us from the Habitat conference left for San Pedro Sula where they flew out Sunday. I wasn't done yet.......even though I said I wasnt going to buy knick knacks anymore....I couldnt resist the maracas.
My co-worker Andres and I wanted to check out the Mayan ruins, and I had done some research on Copan before the conference and discovered that there is a BIRD PARK. Yes, Macaw Mountain Bird Park had to be visited. Saturday morning the hotel shuttle took our group to the Ruins and I wanted to be dropped at the bird park. I convince Andres to go with me, and all though he isn’t a huge bird fan (like me) he enjoyed it. He is an avid photographer and took some beautiful shots of the parrots.
My camera also captured some nice shots I thought. Like this little birdie.
This is my favorite one of me.... the bird lady....in all her glory! I was in heaven!
This next pic is just to show you why I am asking Ernesto for a camera like Andres' for xmas. 
He took this pic with his Canon EOS (pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee mi neto???) Just look at the difference in colors. Now that is magazine quality. Imagine what it will do for my jewelry shots. Yes, it is a business investment. ok, back to my camera....
That night me, Andres, Aranzazu from Mexico and Esteban from Chile were planning to go to some Aguas Termales (hot springs) to relax, but since it had been raining for the past 5 days straight, the roads were a mess, and the place didnt have electricity. Instead we headed into town for some street food!!! For $1 we ate baleadas that were being prepared fresh by this lady right here. 
Baleadas are a flour tortilla-ish thing that is filled with beans, natilla, which is like a sour cream and cheese...and of course I added hot sauce too....sooooo delicioso! We pulled up a platic stool under the umbrella table on the street and order some shish kabobs too. Now thats what Im talkin' about! 
Our guide was wonderful! We ended up spending over 3 hours exploring and taking pics. Plus he was speaking spanish, so it was a good lesson for me. Here he is with his feather pointer explaining some hierogyliphics.
Up closer.............................
Copan seemed to be a very complex city. It is the site of a major Mayan kingdom. It was so cool to listen to our guide telling us how the city was set up. Here Andres and I are on one of the 2 pyramids. (called the Acropolis)
Here they are from above.
There was a residential area too. Copan, considered by many, one of the most spectacular city's of the ancient Mayas civilization. It flourished during the 7th century. That is a LONG time ago! Copán seemed to have had an unusually prosperous class of minor nobility, scribes, and artisans, some of whom had homes of cut stone built for themselves, some of which have carved hierogyliphics texts. It even had a large court for playing some kind of mesoamerica ball game. This is one of the many statues on the immense lawn....I wish I could tell you the story.
Notice the hierogyliphics, at the bottom...I thought the "window" had a great view.
As we walked around, I couldn't help but think of the two movies 300 and Apocalypto. A bit erie! Then we entered the tunnels..
Archeologists have dug 4km of tunnels under the acropolis (the 2 pyramids) to view earlier stages of Copan civilization. There was even a bathroom. Our guide said it is the only one of its kind to be discovered. It was a really interesting tour. I have been to some mayan ruins in Mexico, last year as a matter of fact. Tulum....but I didnt get a guide. Well worth it!
Especially since our guide was the one who told us about our next adventure....Horseback riding.
Up closer.............................Copan seemed to be a very complex city. It is the site of a major Mayan kingdom. It was so cool to listen to our guide telling us how the city was set up. Here Andres and I are on one of the 2 pyramids. (called the Acropolis)
Here they are from above.There was a residential area too. Copan, considered by many, one of the most spectacular city's of the ancient Mayas civilization. It flourished during the 7th century. That is a LONG time ago! Copán seemed to have had an unusually prosperous class of minor nobility, scribes, and artisans, some of whom had homes of cut stone built for themselves, some of which have carved hierogyliphics texts. It even had a large court for playing some kind of mesoamerica ball game. This is one of the many statues on the immense lawn....I wish I could tell you the story.Notice the hierogyliphics, at the bottom...I thought the "window" had a great view.As we walked around, I couldn't help but think of the two movies 300 and Apocalypto. A bit erie! Then we entered the tunnels..
Archeologists have dug 4km of tunnels under the acropolis (the 2 pyramids) to view earlier stages of Copan civilization. There was even a bathroom. Our guide said it is the only one of its kind to be discovered. It was a really interesting tour. I have been to some mayan ruins in Mexico, last year as a matter of fact. Tulum....but I didnt get a guide. Well worth it!Especially since our guide was the one who told us about our next adventure....Horseback riding.
It was lunch time though and we were hungry. Earlier I had seen Pupusaria Mary and pupusas are now one of my favorite things to eat! (I always get them at the market I go to on Saturday mornings...but they are really from El Salvador) We ate about 7 of them and then went to buy our bus tickets for the next day to the airport. I only mention this because I thought it was so funny that the ticket office was basically in someones living room. HA! Here Andres is at the "ticket counter"
At 230p sharp, we met our horse guide at the entrance of the ruins to "saddle up" for our trip to the indigenous village of Chor’ti. Habitat had arranged for everyone at the conference to visit Chorti Saturday morning as a field trip, but since it had rained non-stop all week, the roads were to muddy for cars to pass. Habitat Honduras hopes to provide 1,728 housing improvements on indigenous Chor’ti homes, 192 new houses for families whose homes in their current state cannot be improved, and training for 3,840 individuals in Chor’ti communities on health control. Thats why we got excited when the guide told us we could take horses there. We stopped to take a photo above the Rio Copan.
At 230p sharp, we met our horse guide at the entrance of the ruins to "saddle up" for our trip to the indigenous village of Chor’ti. Habitat had arranged for everyone at the conference to visit Chorti Saturday morning as a field trip, but since it had rained non-stop all week, the roads were to muddy for cars to pass. Habitat Honduras hopes to provide 1,728 housing improvements on indigenous Chor’ti homes, 192 new houses for families whose homes in their current state cannot be improved, and training for 3,840 individuals in Chor’ti communities on health control. Thats why we got excited when the guide told us we could take horses there. We stopped to take a photo above the Rio Copan. 
Despite living near a major tourist attraction which celebrates their ancestors, the majority of Chor’ti families today live in extreme poverty (less than US$1/day/person)
When we wrode in on our horses the kids came running towards us from everywhere. They wanted to sell us the handmade dolls out of dyed cornhusks. I had seen them in Copan and the tourist shops, but wasn't interested. Something about the kids and their little faces...holding the dolls over their heads saying "compra uno cada uno" (buy one from each of us.) In this picture we are discussing how many we should buy......Andres' face says it all....
They were $1 each and Andres and I couldn't resist, we bought 12 dolls. One from each kid. 
The homes here are built a mixture of bamboo, mud and timber with thatched roofs and dirt floors.
Chor’ti is lucky enough to have some tourists coming to the village and they actually have a cute little restaurant (it was Sunday so it wasn't open) and there is also a small artist studio that was funded by another NGO (not sure who) So this a source of income for the community. We met a woman who makes beautiful woven textiles in this studio.
We bought several pieces and felt good about it, again because its helping out this community, but also to have met the woman who actually made it was special. Andres is here playing with her kids outside the newer/nicest building in the village. He was asking them to write on his arm, and they were excited to do so...
This is little Levin, one of her sons.
and this little girl, I forget her name, but she was so pretty and sweet.
This picture, Andres took of me and the kids. You can tell its his camera, its such a great shot!
After about and hour, we got back on the horses and started the trek down.
Early the next morning our bus to San Pedro Sula was at 7am. Normally a 3 hour bus ride, so we would have arrived with time to kill for our flight that was departing at 5pm. About 20 minutes into the ride, we came to a hault.......ooooh for about 3 hours!! There was a mud slide and cars (let alone huge buses) were not able to pass. Everyone was out of their cars watching. A huge truck was stuck in the mud, its wheels buried. 
Finally though, a big tractor/bulldozer thing came and pulled the truck out and rearranged the mud so that we could pass. We still arrived to the airport 3.5 hours early. It was a long day, but a very smooth trip....thank god I was with someone who didn't "flip out" .......a little delay is nothing to get upset about, right?
After about and hour, we got back on the horses and started the trek down.
Early the next morning our bus to San Pedro Sula was at 7am. Normally a 3 hour bus ride, so we would have arrived with time to kill for our flight that was departing at 5pm. About 20 minutes into the ride, we came to a hault.......ooooh for about 3 hours!! There was a mud slide and cars (let alone huge buses) were not able to pass. Everyone was out of their cars watching. A huge truck was stuck in the mud, its wheels buried. 
Finally though, a big tractor/bulldozer thing came and pulled the truck out and rearranged the mud so that we could pass. We still arrived to the airport 3.5 hours early. It was a long day, but a very smooth trip....thank god I was with someone who didn't "flip out" .......a little delay is nothing to get upset about, right?To view the whole photo album of my trip, click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cindyjespinoza/CopanRuinas#
http://picasaweb.google.com/cindyjespinoza/CopanRuinas#
This trip started at 420am last Saturday from San Jose and here I am after being in Honduras one week… It has been a long one and I am a bit tired, but I have really enjoyed this trip. This Habitat conference brought together coordinators from about 10 different countries who run the “Global Village” programs for their countries. Global Village is what I did with Delta last year in India….a group of people volunteering (from another country) volunteering to build houses for a week. These coordinators receive teams that come to Latin America from the US and Europe and Canada. It really was so wonderful meeting everyone, and I really felt a pull to this type of job. They all love what they do, and it shows. It was very inspiring and this was just one of times where I realized that I did the right thing by coming to volunteer. I really love Habitat for Humanity and the difference they/we are making in the world. Here we all are one day at lunch. (I am about half-way down on the right)
Besides inspiring content at the conference, the location was perfect. Here is the view from the hotel patio where we ate breakfast every morning. Absolutely gorgeous!
The town of Copán Ruinas is a beautiful little pueblo with cobblestone streets, ancient culture and lush nature nestled in the mountains of western Honduras. (just 7 miles from the Guatemalan border) The streets are so pretty at night with soft lighting. No florescent lights like in the big city.
Here is a better pic. It really captures everything. The cobblestone streets, the colonial buildings, the locals sitting on the corner with their cowboys hats. EVERYONE had cowboys hats, I thought it was so cool!
Kate saw this deal over a month ago online and asked if I was interested….ahhhh HOLA?? Shewas cool enough to donate her miles and before you knew it I was on a plane to the island of Roatan. It is really different flying confirmed instead of standby, but just the same I love going to the airport and getting on a plane……and ultimately landing somewhere new. Thursday morning this is what I did. Kate was already in Honduras for a work trip (this is what sparked the beach trip in the first place) I met her in San Pedro Sula, and we took the little puddle jumper together to Roatan. A short taxi ride later and we were in West End, a beach on the south side of the island. I was in charge of finding our accommodations in Roatan so I went to a cool site called virtualtourist.com to do some research. It’s a great place to get recommendations from other travelers. I found out that West Bay is supposed to be the most beautiful beach on the island, but it is also lined with all inclusive resorts and condos…I learned that West End a more laid back beach with lots of unique restaurants and nightlife, I knew that would be a better fit.
Beautiful wood, hamacas on the front porch…$50 with kitchenette and air, and you cross the sand road and you are on the beach…DONE! 
Not even 5 minutes into our drink and we were invited on a boat with 2 of the locals. Of course, at first we thought they were trying to sell us a fishing trip, but Kuni and Cort said they were just going out to enjoy they afternoon. What a coincidence!!... all we wanted to do was …..you guessed it….enjoy the after noon. Now I know you may be shaking your head, thinking Im crazy but I have always been [too] trusting of people I meet, but I can honestly say that [way] more times that not- the people I meet are good people. (minus the GDF web designer) 
a local beer, which has a clever name ....in English it means "life saver." My next stop? The truck on the sandy road in front of the beach......It doesn't get much better than this. He cut my lime for me and we were off.
The boat was pretty big and had about 6 fishing poles hanging off the back. 
Of course I wanted to drive the boat.... 
while i relaxed.......and got more sun
It did NOT suck! I don't think there is a more carefree feeling then being on a boat in the ocean watching the sunset.....
We ended up back at Sundowners on the beach ordered burgers and said good night to our friends…..this is just one example of why trusting is better than being suspicious. 
We were planning to go home and shower, then check out the nightlife….yeah right….I woke up at 2:30 am, looked at my watch, rolled over and fell back asleep. Oh well, we got an early start the next day......There is one sand road that runs through West End in Roatan, with cute colorful stores and restaurants. There is a very friendly, laid-back feel, but not hippy...most everyone who is hanging here is a diver. (Roatan is on the 2nd largest reef in the world...2nd only to Australia's) Here I am on the main street walking to (or from?) breakfast.....
You get the idea.....slow island life.....nothing is rushed
Here was the view to my left....the still of the morning.
On the street, I feel in love with this little store front, really because of the unbelievable carved wood door. There were windows on each side of it and I imagined my jewelry in it and me living in the matching wood sided building behind it......anything is possible...
The 2nd night we knew we had to save some energy for going out! So we did a lot of relaxing all day! We took a water taxi to West Bay (the hotel/all-inclusive beach) for $3.
The "taxi"....how cool!
West Bay has a beautiful beach...
We ate lunch at a place on the beach called Bananarama...mmm, stewed chicken and coconut shrimp. .. and these little girls were there selling the little shell necklaces. they (the girls) were so cute.
and and actually slept some more on the beach....very lazy. (10 hours just wasn't enough! This goes to prove my theory, that the more you sleep, the more tired you get) A guy came up to us and invited us to a bar named BIDA, there was going to be a DJ there palying house music later that night, so we told him we might check it out. We took a "taxi" back to West End and ate dinner at a thai restaurant. We shared lobster green curry..... 
and sat at a small romantic table on a skinny pier that was lined with lanterns and went out over the water. After dinner we headed down the road and went to BIDA. The DJ was really cool and we enjoyed a few free beers from the host who invited us there.
There were a lot of locals there and everyone was dancing, a very good vibe. Here Kate stands-by while a local tries to figure out his camera for a picture.
Since we didnt get to be until about 230a, we had a slow morning. We crossed the street to eat a typical breakfast at Mavis on the water....here you can see the deck that we sat on outside. 
There were kitties all over the island, this one got comfy on my lap...she was clean...really.
Our goal that day was to get some snorkeling in. We were wishing we had gone the first day, because the next couple days there were short spurts of rain and it really made the water a little murky. Still a gorgeous blue, but it was not clear underwater....when we went to a dive shop that had snorkel trips they said they werent going out that day cuz it was rough...SHIT!
We hung out on the pier in the sun for a bit, deciding what we were going to do....
We enjoyed a girly drink with the sunset, I forget the name, but it was frozen and had Kalua. 
On the last day we decided we were going to try to snorkel even with the low visibility...I mean, come on....we are on the 2nd biggest barrier reef, we had to try! We rented the gear for $5 and again took the water taxi over to West Bay. At the dock we saw this local filleting a baracuda he just caught. In his bucket there he had yellow fin tuna too!!
Our waiter gave me a complimentary Mango daquiri for desert, and that was a perfect ending to a great meal. 
I spoke to soon when I said to kate as we were boarding the plane...a perfectly smooth trip. After circling San Jose for almost 2 hours due to fog, we diverted into Panama and had to stay there from 11p-5a....the benches didnt have arm rests, so we pulled out our packed clothes for pillows and slept. Funny, but that didn't bother me in the least bit. There was nothing to stress about. It's Costa Rica...did I mention that I love it here? 
