After our 11-hour roadie yesterday, we woke up at the crack of dawn once again to go exploring. On today's docket? The Copan Ruins. They were quite incredible. Hopefully I was able to take a couple pictures that captured the beauty of the place. We were the first to arrive (at 7:55am) and got to see some of the temples before the crowds, the heat, and the bad midday lighting (for pictures) arrived. When we first entered the site, it opens up into a huge field with a couple pyramid temples at either end. They say the large field was a field where they played a game with a ball. They also said that the ball they used may have been a human head, though they are not quite sure. They are sure that there was a human sacrifice at the end of the game, though. There were a ton of altars all around the ruins where I suppose they performed all kinds of sacrifices.
Though our group of 12 all went to the ruins together, the rest of the group moved much faster than Haley and I. We hung back and after the first field of ruins we were on our own. I can't imagine how the first people to discover it in recent memory felt when they stumbled upon it around 100 years ago, if I remember correctly. I would know more if we had taken a tour, but at an extra 15 bucks a person, we decided to wait until Tikal to get the guide (those ruins are much bigger and supposedly much more impressive.
Please check out the pictures, as I once again will not be able to describe the grandeur of the place. It is very cool.
Later on today, we drove into Guatemala. The trip got started on the wrong foot when the van we all loaded into started making this horribly loud metal on metal clanking noise. For some reason, the driver thought that maybe the noise would go away if he kept on driving. So, he just revved the engine faster and faster, at which point the noise became louder and more violent (the entire van shook). After finally admitting defeat, the driver pulled over and we rounded up a couple more vans to replace the broken one. I guess the transmission had gone out or something.
The van drive was long (about 6 hours), but I was able to finish a book I started yesterday. It was "The Summons," by John Grisham. I remember mom had mentioned something about it the last time I saw her, and I thought I would check it out. Haley had actually picked up the book way back in La Fortuna, Costa Rica on that rainy day (see entry for day 3). We are at that point in the trip where I am now bored looking out the window for 10 hours a day, so I have been reading non-stop in the vans and buses.
So, on to the book. It is the third fastest read I have ever done (after the Pelican Brief and A Time To Kill--just a coincidence that they are by the same author). I can't believe that I read it so fast, especially, because the book was mediocre to okay at best. But Grisham's style is very easy flowing and the read is very smooth. I used to love Grisham, but haven't read anything of his in over 12 years. I don't think I'll read too many more in the future.
So we are now in Antigua, Guatemala, and the city looks amazing. It is very similar to Grenada, in the colonial style. The difference is that we are much higher up, the power and water works, and the country is a little more stable. It is also a bigger city, with many more souvenir shops. I think we may brake the bank in this city…especially because their ATM's are actually working.
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