Mayan ruins, Caribbean paradises, Hanging from highwires, and Chicken buses
COSTA RICA | Sunday, 13 July 2008 | Views [605] | Comments [1]
'Jees, those Mayans - pretty smart guys, huh?' These words represented the sum total of my knowledge of the ancient Mayan civilization before I got to Central America. (I also knew made that Mel Gibson made that really gorey movie, but I'm not sure that ranks as substantive knowledge about the ancient civilization.) In Copan, Honduras, however, I was treated to the most impressive array of rocks I've ever seen. Yes - way ahead of the Celts. We also had a terrific guide, who was able to weave the story of the Mayans into this impressive tapestry of the entire origins and development of Central America, and into contemporary astronomy/astrology. Anyway, the outcome of it all is that, apparently the world's coming to an end in 2012. Complete meltdown and destruction. Noone will be saved. That, or (and this was my preferred interpretation) the world's going to begin anew, with renewed enlightenment and optimism and mutual understanding. The end of conflict and famine. As for the exact reasons behind all this, I haven't a clue...
From Copan, we made our way to brief stop in Tela, the official armpit of Honduras. Mercifully, it was brief. (You know you're in trouble when random passers by start telling you to go back to your hotel, 'it's dangerous here'.) The dinginess of Tela did, however, help us to fully appreciate the splendor of the Carribean paradise that is Roatan, Bay Islands. It was my first time in Carribbean, and the blueness of the water really was stunning. You just don't get that in Donegal. Three days of snorkling, sailing, drinking tasty rum-based cocktails there, and we had to move on to Tegucicalpa. Hmmm, Tegucicalpa. I'm now re-thinking my assertion that Tela is the armpit of Honduras. Tegucicalpa (or 'Tegus', as it's more commonly know) is the Honduran capital, and it was also the most threatening place I've been in all my travels. The bus sort of abandoned us on the side of the road in the middle of the Tegus ghetto, and we then stood there with our bags while the guide arranged taxis. The taxi driver had no gas, and so had to pull into a gas station in the aforementioned ghetto, while I closed my eyes and contemplated the detail of the crime report I would no doubt be making in a few short hours. Around the hotel, we tried to find a place to eat, but the place is so unsafe that the only eatery available after 9pm was Burger King - and even that closed at 10. Making our way home, we noticed that the even the police who had been visible in the central square were gone. It's not a good sign when even the heavily armed police force don't feel secure in an area.
After Honduras came lovely Granada, Nicaragua. A beautiful and quaint city, nicely-equipped for tourists, but not too well-equipped. A day-trip to Leon, Nicaragua's revolutionary capital, and a guided tour by a former Sandinista. On this tourist trail, the grinding poverty of Nicaragua was inescapably obvious - the poorest of all of the countries I visited. It's not hard to see why the revolutionary fervour remains strong in the country. The Nicaraguan leg of the trip finished in Ometepe, an incredible place - an island composed of two volcanoes. Two nights there involved far too many bottles of Tona, the local lager...
The guided tour part of the trip concluded in San Jose, Costa Rica, where the group parted company. I said goodbye to my wonderful companions from the previous two weeks, while Michelle and I made our way to beautiful Monteverde, to sample some of Costa Rica's famed adventure sports...
(Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/48413187@N00/ for photos of all of the above.)
