Niki and I woke up Monday morning in our San Pedro Sula hotel room and were ready to get out of dodge. We packed up our barely open backpacks and headed outside for our seven a.m. taxi we had arranged. The same guy that dropped us off at the hotel was there to pick us up in the morning and take us to the bus station. We returned to that same bus station we were at a week ago that I described as a shopping mall.
After being dropped off at the main entrance, Niki and I searched for the bus window that said Copán. We had about a three and a half hour bus ride southwest, toward a small village and ruins! Unfortunately, the next bus didn't leave for another two hours, so we had some time to kill. We walked the bright white tiled floor past a ton of stores and kiosks, up some escalators and into a giant food court. My jaw was dropped as to how many choices there were for fast food including Burger King and even Pizza Hut. A lot of the other little places were different cuisines with a cheesy storefront, but really good smelling food. Starving from the night before of backpacking snacks and Gatorade, everything looked so good. I ended up getting some kind of Chinese rice and then afterwards, Niki and I split a slice of Pizza Hut pizza. It's weird how even tasting something that familiar of home gives you the biggest sense of satisfaction.
We read and blogged for what seemed like only a half hour, before boarding our bus to Copán. This one was a chicken bus, or old American school bus that ended up being nice and roomy because of the small amount of people on it. Niki and I were able to bring our bags aboard and have our own seat, which is a hot commodity in this region because of the lack of personal space on public transportation.
I mainly listened to my iPod and looked out the window on this bus ride. Thinking deeply and staring out the window, I clicked through my iPod and applied each and every song to a moment, or a place, or a person in my life. Certain songs made me think of certain people and how much I love them or laugh with them or dance with them etc. It's awesome how music does that.
As we approached Copán, a local mom and her two kids got on the bus and sat in the seat in front of me. It didn't take very long for the little boy (about five years old maybe?) to take an interest in me. He started by standing on the seat and looking out the window and peeking sideways to look at me. I would wave or smile at him and he would smile and shyly turn away. A couple seconds later, he'd be right back to looking at me and smiling. I got my camera out and took a photo of him and showed him how it turned out. He loved it and began to laugh. I also showed his mom who wasn't much older than me and she laughed, which made me know it was ok. Next thing I knew, his baby sister had joined in on the fun of peekaboo over the seat and through the crack between seats. Their giggles were priceless and totally MADE my day, along with the photos I got of them. When their stop arrived, they waved and said, "Adios", as they exited.
A couple stops later, the bus came to a stop where the main public road came to an end. A bridge crossed a beautiful river and marked the beginning of a cobblestone street blocked by two cement poles to prevent large vehicles from entering.
On our search for a hostel, I crossed the bridge and looked back to see a local woman in her sixties or seventies totally topless on the riverbank, getting ready to bathe. Niki, who is totally used to this sight slaps my arm and says, "Oh my God, don't stare!" Haha. I couldn't help it at first and I guess I was kind of staring, but I've never seen someone just strip down like that to bathe. I was cracking up, of course discretely though!
We ended up at Berakah hostel right in downtown Copán Ruinas and quickly got acquainted with the small town. We walked the streets to find the post office, veggie market, jewelry stands and a place for lunch. Twisted Tanya's was where we sat down for some shared nachos and a cold drink.
By the time we finished lunch and walking, it was late afternoon/ early evening, so we headed back to the hostel to relax. We utilized the wifi while hanging in the hammocks on the upstairs terrace and then returned to our cool room. Because it was an interior and dark room, the room felt as if it had air conditioning, which was so relaxing after hanging out on the terrace. We kept joking about how our "luxury" room was so nice because of the coolness, it's crispy white sheets, the really bad orange sponge painting, and the best part....a WARM shower! If we carefully adjusted the water pressure to a slow trickle, we got fairly warm water, thanks to a janky wiring system at the top of the shower head that our friend Rhed from Ometepe nicknamed a "suicide shower".
Regardless, it was amazing to take a shower that didn't hurt! Haha! We laid in our room for the rest of the night and chatted and learned more and more about each other. It's those talks that friends have that are priceless. Here we were, in Honduras, in a small little ruin town, laying on a bed, laughing about our suicide shower and each others stories. Life is so good!
I passed out the minute my head hit the pillow, which Niki said she envied, but I knew I'd be ready for our early start for the ruins in the morning. It was said to be a great place so I was excited.
Photos:
1) Bus station escalators
2) Bus station food court
3) Newsstand in bus station
4) View out bus window
5) Cute kids on bus
6) River where lady was bathing
7) Stoney street of Copán
8) "Suicide shower"
Those showers are so scary!!! At least there were no spiders in there too.
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