Copan, Honduras

The first stop of the Christmas adventure was Copan. The town of Copan is pretty cool itself and on top of that it has the famous Copan ruins. We spent some time tooling around the town and enjoying the culinary arts. Of course we also went to the ruins and had a guide show us around and tell us the history of the ruins and the Mayan civilization. We also did some horse back riding up to a local village where we hung out with some kids and checked out the great views. Copan is a pretty great place and I will be heading back very soon for the junior trip with my school.

These little colf cart/trike taxis were awesome to whip around town in.  

I don't know if this picture does justice to exactly how skinny our horses were. They were so skinny and refused to do anything other than a walk. We had little motivational sticks and ropes that we used and it took a serious beating to get these things up to a canter. I ended up whipping myself a few times in the process of getting this guy moving.  

This was at a village at the top of the mountain where we rode up to with our pathetic horses. The kids were fun and playfull although most of them were trying to sell us little things they made and were constantly yelling prices out to us. Veinte....Veinte.....Veinte!  

I'm imitating the kingly pose of 18 conejos (the king's name--18 rabbits) This is at the Copan Ruins which is in Honduras.  

People were beheaded (for winning a game) on this rock and the blood would run down a groove that is cut out of the rock.  

Ok kids lets put out imagination caps on and imagine what it might have been like to live during the height of the mayan civilization. How would life be different? Would it be harder? What might a regular day look like?  

Ahh ruins....There so....How do you say it...Oh ya, cool and old.  

I'm holding up a lempira bill because the background is the picture that is on the bill. The strip to the right of my left elbow is an area where they used to play a crazy game. The game involved trying to knock a giant rubber ball around using your thighs or hips to score points. The winner recieved all the glory and was given the privelege of sacrificing one of the members of their team to please the gods. No wonder the Mayan civilization was destroyed...they were joyfully sacrificing the best and the brightest as a way to bring glory to the gods and leaving all the losers around to run a civilization.  

Chichicastenango

We made it to chichi in time for their festival. They have a week long party for their patron Saint who was Santo Tomas. Usually the town is an attraction because it is a market town but now it had all the festival celebrations and the market going on. The colors of this place was incredible. Evryone was dressed up in traditional outfits and it was a great cultural experience. The women have fantastic dresses with little babies inside a matching pouch that is flung around their back. We spent all of our time just walking around, eating food, trying not to go deaf from fireworks and soaking up Guetemalan culture at its best. It was one of my favorite spots but it was also nice to leave and move on to a more tranquilo place.

I developed a fungus on my face and Tara called me my little mushroom the whole time because the doctor told me I had hongo. (mushrooms or fungus) So I strutted around town like this and I think I was more scary than the street people with masks. Maybe I should have worn a mask. Dont look at me!!! I'm hideous!!!  

It was a seriously colorful place. 

The street here had two catholic churches facing one another about 120 yards apart. The one in this picture had steps leading up to it where crazy men would set fireworks off of all day and night. After a couple days of fireworks I was going crazy!  

The town was like this all week long with crazy costumes, dancers, tons of market area, and constant fireworks.  

Check out the height of this full grown women with her kid strapped to the back. She's at Tara's elbow! Rachel I found someone you are taller than...hee hee...So the people in Guetemala and this town particularly are really tiny. I felt like a giant and I practically was in comparison to them. So you can imagine how small they are knowing how big I am.... 

This is Tara's other boyfriend she met in Guetemala. We decided to explore our options in chichi and this is what she found. I didn't feel too threatened. His eyes are even more beady and his head even more floppy then this canuck.  

This is what gravesites look like in Central America. Crazy tombstones. From a distance it looks more like a mini little carnival then a gravesite.  

Video games are popular everywhere. I was showing hem how to play tetris....They didn't seem to get the point of it.  

Even the little babies strapped to the back of mothers are dressed up!  

Who wouldn't want to buy a birdie from this man?  

These guys know the true meaning of being fashionable. The outfits in this place were incredible!  

San Pedro

We went to a lakeside town called San Pedro on lago Atitlan. It is kinda a hippy pot smoking town full of traveling Europeans that hang out on the main strip by the water. Up the hill side is where the local Guetemalans live and where the market is. We spent our time chilling at restaurants, walking around, climbing a volcano (which was really tough but worth it) and doing a little horse back riding.

I've been there....seriously.  

Nice..... 

Dana and I at the top of the lake town San Pedro.  

Tara and I at the top of the volcano we climbed. Unfortunatley it was an inactive volcano but it was a really challenging three hour (vertical) hike with a fantastic view of the lake and surrounding towns below.  

See the face in the volcano in the background? The nose is the highest peak. This is Dana trying to imitate the face but she's backwards.  

What a cowgirl!