¡Nuestro Primero Viaje! Our First Trip!

This past week was Semana Santa (Holy Week), an important time of year for the Church. Pretty much everything shuts down that week and everyone heads to the beach or nearest swimming hole. My housemates and I travelled to San Pedro Sula (the industrial capital) for a night and to Copán Ruinas for three nights. In San Pedro we were lucky enough to meet up with one of the psychologists that we met the previous week. She brought us to some neat places in the city including a cultural museum and a fast food chicken restaurant that she was very proud of (I really threw them off when I ordered rice and beans without one of the fifty different chicken options).

Then we headed to Copán, home of Hondura´s only site of Mayan ruins. It was a pretty touristy town and a lot safer than what I´ve been used to in Guaimaca. So just getting away on its own was a bit liberating. I enjoyed venturing through the cobblestone roads, visiting a photo exhibit, and even just sitting and reading in the central park. The ruins were pretty interesting. We were able to climb up the steps of the temples and touch sacrificing stones (equipped with slots to let the blood of the sacrificed run down). I also went on a really beautiful nature walk and saw some truly grand trees. I do wish that I had put down the money for a guide, but it just wasn´t in our budget. There wasn´t much information out along the paths, but it was still neat to witness the grandiosity of a civilization that flourished so many years ago.

The next day we ventured to Macaw Mountain. It is a bird park that accepts birds from captivity. From there, they breed them and set the youngins out into the wild. It´s mostly an educational park and it afforded us the opportunity to get up close with the birds native to Honduras. They were quite brilliant.

Possibly the best part of our trip was stumbling upon a small brewery run by a German man on the outskirts of town. Let me explain my excitement. Since our first month here, I realized that one of the things that I would miss most (talking food-wise) is good quality beer. Honduras has about three options, and they’re all watered down… the best of all being Corona. So sitting down at this brewery, being able to truly enjoy a cold wheat beer was marvellous. So this German man had settled in Copán fourteen years ago and now has a family and his own brewery. He was so passionate about his work that he gladly showed us the brewing process and his equipment. It was quite neat.

We returned Wednesday night of Holy Week so that we could be back for the Easter services. Coming back to Guaimaca made it feel even more like home…even though the electricity had gone out.