May day at the Copan Ruins

This morning I slept in. It felt glorious to not have to get anywhere in a rush. Although in fairness I probably should have woken up somewhat early in order to make it to the Copan ruins before the heat of the day. Definitely had some issues trying to find the ruins, sans map, but made it there in part to some friendly locals and an ever so helpful soldier. Headed inside and started touring around.

Copan Ruins are definitely not what I expected. They were quite extensive with perhaps slightly less grand (read tall) buildings than Tikal, however they had much more of the original carving in the rocks. Equally important you were allowed to climb on a lot of the ruins. But it was sort of neat to go unguided and just experience the ruins on my own. I walked through the main plaza, noted the many statues and altars as well as marveled at the hieroglyphic staircase. I ended off my tour with a scenic walk to the river.

I headed back into town, found Picame Restaurante. I ate the largest burrito I have ever seen in my life, and it was delicious! I also had a blackberry and strawberry licuardo, which I must admit was heavenly. Then I went in search of a bank as well as a bathing suit. The former was a total success. The bathing suit pursuit was an utter failure. I don’t know about you, but bathing suit shopping for most females is not exactly the sort of thing you get excited about. But here it is compounded by the fact that the bathing suits are incredibly ugly and the only sizes they had were extra larges and smalls.

Against all my better judgement I opted to try my luck. Looking back the entire thing was definitely more hilarious than anything. I felt a significant lack of coverage in the chest as well as the rear. There was one particular bathing suit which must have been for a pre-teen, because there is no way a regular sized chest would fit into it! The long and gist of it is that bathing suit shopping in Latin America is not for the faint hearted. It might just be ok for someone with a sense of humour though.

It was time to eat some dinner and skype with my parents. I finished off the night by reading a bit. Tomorrow I leave for San Pedro Sula en route to Utila.