Honduras & El Salvador

Central America is a relatively safe region to travel if you are vigilant. The two countries that we felt a bit uneasy about were Honduras and El Salvador. They don't have as much of an establish backpackers trail as the other countries in the region and their safely ratings are not great. Since we were delayed by a few weeks from because of my surgery, we decided to only spend a few days in each country. 

We took a shuttle from Antigua in Guatemala to the town of Copan in Honduras. I had read online that there was no cost to exit Guatemala since we already paid our tourist tax upon entry. When we got the border, the customs official  stamped our passports and asked us to pay $4 each. Hmm. Using the best Spanish we could muster we challenged him, knowing that there was no official fee to exit. He made up some reason, saying that because we were only going to Honduras for a few days that we had to pay a tax. An American man behind was telling us to stop making a fuss, if the official says there is a tax, then there must be a tax. Eventually they sent us to a different window where a younger man told us that we were right, there is nothing to pay and gave us our passports back. 

Zip-lining in Copan, Honduras. 

                                      

We only had a few days in Honduras so we decided to base ourselves in the small town of Copan near the border of Guatemala. The area is covered by forests and there are a lot of outdoor activities to choose from. We decided to go zip-lining because it was reasonably prices and would keep us out of the hot sun. Our guides came to pick us up in a truck and told us to sit in the back. The zip-lining course took about an hour to complete and it felt great to get some fresh air. No matter how small, most of the towns are hot and stuffy. On one of the last lines Aaran lost his hat to the jungle. We thought for sure we would never see it again, but once we got back to the base our guide set out with a machete to clear a path and went to retrieve it. 

Included in the tour was access to a bird rescue centre. There were hundreds of birds that had lost their homes due to deforestation. Others had been staved in houses where they were kept as pets. Aaran said hello when he approached one of the cages and the birds all replied "Hola". 

Heading out to the start of the zip-lining course. 

Birds at the rescue centre.

A beautiful Scarlet Macaw.

The main reason to visit the city of Copan is to visit its famous Mayan ruins. We thought that since we had seen most of the ruins of the Mayan empire that we should check these ones out as well. The thing that sets Copan apart from other Mayan sites is its impressive Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza. The staircase is 100 metres wide and tells a story from nearly 2000 glyphs. 

The ruins of a staircase in the ruined city of Copan.

After doing a bit of a crash course in Mayan glyphs at the Copan museum we tried to identify images in the ruins. 

Copan is a small town and there really were not a lot of tourists around. That's why we were surprised to find really great coffee shops around. We were looking online for the best espresso in town when Aaran found a place that claimed to make delicious cheeses. We decided to go check it out and we very pleasantly surprised. We couldn't quite afford the $15 double cream brie, so we settled on a flavoured cream cheese. We couldn't find any crackers so we ate it with chips for dinner. 

So happy to find real, fresh cheese in a very unlikely place. 

We must have arrived just in time for the lychee harvest in Honduras. Every fruit stand was selling bags full of them for just a few dollars. 

Our next stop was El Salvador. After a lot of research we decided to spend a few days in the beach town of El Tunco. We had been in hot cities for a while and needed a bit of sea breeze. It's a lazy surf town packed with tourist and unfortunately a prime spot for drug tourism. We did our best to stay in populated areas when the sun went down. Our guesthouse had a pool and we almost always had it all to ourselves. We were hoping to save some money by cooking, but the kitchen was filthy so that plan was broken. Luckily we were able to find lots of cheap food in town. We basically spent our four days there just sitting by the pool, reading and eating pupusas. 

The pool at our guesthouse. 

The glorious pupusa. Dough stuffed with cheese or meat. 

Relaxing at our guesthouse. 

Beers at sunset. 

The sunsets in El Tunco were unbelievable. 

Someone cooking dinner on the side of the road. 

Enjoying the breeze. 

After our short stays in Honduras and El Salvador, it was off to Nicaragua. We don't really like speeding through countries so quickly but we keep telling ourselves that it's impossible to see everything.