Honduras Trip Report -- Copan Valley

BASIC INFORMATION

Places I'll Cover in Future Trip Reports: San Pedro Sula, Omoa, Tela, La Ceiba, Trujillo, Olancho Department

Places I'll Cover in this Entry: Copan Ruinas, Ruins of Copan, Hacienda San Lucas/Los Sapos, Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve, La PintadaFinca El Cisne

Time Spent in this Area: 7 Days

Although I’ve visited Honduras (as a traveler) since 2006, I’ve never explored Copan Valley. By one week in 2006 was spent at Roatan. In 2007, I spent another week at Roatan and Utila. In 2008, I visited Roatan, Utila, Guanaja, and a few days at La Ceiba. In 2009, I spent eight days in La Moskitia (Rio Platano area) with La Ruta Moskitia, and another week up the Rio Patuca (which was mostly independent with a local guide). Never had I visited Copan Valley. The seven days I spent there this summer have me wanting to return.

Copan Ruinas

In order to get to this town, I went back to Santa Rosa de Copan (I had gone from La Esperanza to Gracias, and then to SRC). I was originally unsure if there was any bus service to Copan Ruinas from SRC, and about mid-day I was quite nervous that I had wasted part of my day waiting for the bus. To my relief, a local bus system was running and by noon, it arrived. It took about two hours to arrive at Copan Ruinas, and I cheched in at Hotel Calle Real, where I was able to stay in a single room for about $14 a night. The rooms were clean, simple, and the hotel itself has a colonial style.

Copan Ruinas is a very charming town. It caters to travelers, but retains its original atmosphere nonetheless, which is something that some other parts of the world don’t quite boast. The Parque Central is a great place to just soak up the atmosphere: watch the tuk-tuks pass by, interact with the friendly locals, meet a traveler that passes by, etc. After that, I checked a nice little market that the town has, and then I checked Via Via Café+, which on Wednesday has a very nice salsa night. I checked the Yat B’alam shopping complex, where I saw some more (black and white) Lencan pottery, jewelry, and carvings. However, my favorite place to buy a souvenir was a place called +Yax Pasah, which is out on one of the roads leaving Copan Ruinas. They have a wide selection of Mayan carvings, but if you ask, like I did, the artisan is willing to make a Mayan stela just for you. The artisan showed me the process of how the stela are carved and also told me some history behind the carvings, so it was a great experience within the area.

Just outside of town, on the way to another town called El Florido, I visited the Enchanted Wings Butterfly House. For about $5 (which included a guided tour), I was shown and educated about the several beautiful butterflies from Honduras and other Central American countries. The greenhouse itself was very pleasant and well worth the visit.

Ruins of Copan

Although this was my first time to Copan Valley, it wasn’t my first time seeing Mayan ruins. I travelled extensively through Mexico and Guatemala (and Belize and El Salvador) before I had dedicated more travel to Honduras. Thus, I had already seen Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Kabah, Tulum, Palenque, Tikal, Lamanai, Caracol, Joya de Ceren (in El Salvador; which is a settlement rather than city) and Quirigua. Copan definitely stands out as one of my top favorites.

If I were to choose only two sites to get a basic grasp on Mayan culture, it would be Tikal and Copan. Tikal shows you the architectural grandeur that the Maya were capable of, while Copan shows you the intense artistry.

Copan is smaller (in terms of area and size of temples) than Tikal, but it beats Tikal (and all other Mayan sites) in artistic detail and elegancy. At Tikal and the other sites, I must say that the most art I ever saw at a Mayan site was the façade on some parts of Kabah and a little bit on the other sites. However, the stelae at Copan are unbeatable – nothing at Tikal or Chichen Itza gets close to their detail, for example.

The entry was $15 (Main Ruins and Las Sepulturas), and I had to pay $25 for a guide (which I highly recommend), $7 for the world-class museum, and $15 for the tunnels. I went early in the morning, and found that no other travelers were there: the ruins therefore had a very secluded ambience and the fact that the trees grew out of some of the structures made it feel more adventurous. At the entrance, two scarlet macaws greeted me, but some of the wild creatures (the macaws were captive during the night) included agoutis and several birds, but more surprisingly: a group of white-tailed deer! I had heard of people seeing the agoutis, but did not know of the deer, so it was impressive to see these creatures during the morning.

The guide made my visit to the ruins even more worthwhile. The guide was extremely informative – he explained the history of the discovery of Copan, the known history of Copan itself, and of course, he pointed out what each and every little carving on the stelae and façades meant. The Hieroglphic staircase was also impressive, and a lot of information stems out from that text (which is the longest of the Mayan world). The temples themselves are not large when compared to other Mayan sites, but I didn’t really care – they were still nice climbs, and since the ruins showed impressive artistry (which is something that most other sites lack, and no sites match), I was not disappointed. The guide then lead me to the tunnels for an extra fee of $5. The tunnels were interesting – interesting stucco and some color preserved – but for $15, I think that they’re the only overpriced part of the ruins (and Copan Valley, for that matter). I then asked the guide to take me to Las Sepulturas (for $8 more), which is also an interesting part. There isn’t much artistry, but you can see the living quarters of the Maya, some tombs, and also evidence of another cultural group that used to live there.

After the 2-hour guided tour, I explore the main site further and continued being enchanted, and then visited the Museum of Sculpture, which is probably the most complete Mayan Site museum I’ve seen. It houses some of the original structures, artifacts, and has an impressive replica of what the Rosalila Temple would’ve looked like originally.

Copan amazed me. The main ruins and Las Sepulturas, along with the guide and museum, are well worth the money – but avoid the tunnels if you’d like to save $15 more. Copan is easily a top Mayan site because it shows you a side of Mayan culture that few (if any) other Mayan sites show with such power.

Hacienda San Lucas/Los Sapos

As the next part of exploration in Copan Valley, decided to visit the area near Hacienda San Lucas. I was able to reach Hacienda San Lucas by tuk-tuk – just wait for the tuk-tuk and ask for a ride there. Near the entrance of Hacienda San Lucas, there was a canopy tour group, so I decided to try out the ziplining to see how great it was.

The tour costs $35 per person – which was pleasant in my eyes since most canopy tours I had been on before were $45 or above. The guide started out by giving the instructions and procedures, and he started off by going on the zipline himself. I was then able to go on a thrilling ride of 15 stages – amazing – and the passing forests and countryside were quite beautiful and I felt that the kilometer-long rides were well worth the time and money. At the end, I landed at the corner of the Acropolis of the Copan Ruins. If you’re ever in Copan Valley, try the canopy tour for sure.

I then chose to visit a small Mayan site called “Los Sapos.” Los Sapos is actually on the Hacienda San Lucas property, so in order to explore it without having to stay at the Hacienda costs $3. The hiking trails to Los Sapos are very well maintained – I spotted several beautiful birds along the way, and there were also some agoutis in the bushes browsing for their food. Finally, I reached Los Sapos. The two very large statues were carved in the form of two toads (hence the name), and it’s possible to climb up behind them as well. After spending about 10 minutes checking the surrounding area, I headed back down the beautiful trails and headed back to Hotel Calle Real to rest for the next day.

Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve

I started out my third day by visiting Macaw Mountain when it opened (at about 9 a.m). The ticket cost $10 (each ticket is valid for up to 3 days), and the bird park amazed me. A guided tour was included in the ticket price. The guide told me about thesanctuary’s history, about their current and future projects, and of course about the several birds themselves – how to care for them, their stories, how they live in the wild, etc. The park is very beautiful – the walkways and aviaries seem to grow out of the surrounded area so I never felt in an artificial place.

Of course, the highlight was getting close to and/or holding the birds. There are several birds in the park: Scarlet Macaws, Military/Great Green Macaws, Blue and Yellow Macaws, Ferruginous Pygmy Owls, toucans, toucanets, an aracari, and several varieties of parrots. The owls were quite approachable and curious, but of course I wasn’t able to carry one – it just hopped onto my shoulder for a few seconds, and then they kept studying me. There was one particular toucan that was very cheeky – it just flew down from its perch and started to poke into my ear very gently (perhaps to clean it?), and it allowed me to hold it. It was amazing to see the beauty of these creatures up close. The aracari was also very curious and got on my shoulder for some time. Lastly, I handled the three different types of macaws – one on each arm and the third on my shoulder, and boy, they were a lot heavier than I thought they’d be.

I literally spent hours exploring the entire park, interacting with the different birds, or just observing them in awe. The aviaries are simply amazing and make you feel like you’re literally in a lush rainforest. Afterwards, I decided to try the on-site restaurant. For about $11, I was able to have a full course meal of chicken and seafood, including drinks. The restaurant itself was situated nicely between the river and tropical gardens, with the calls of the birds resonating through. The gift shop is also nice: it holds art in the forms of birds, coffee and some other Honduran crafts.
I left Macaw Mountain as a very jolly traveler. I highly recommend the park, even if you’re not particularly an avid birder.

El Boqueron and El Rubi

El Boqueron and El Rubi aren’t technically right next to each other, but since I did both with Yaragua tours, I decided to put them under the same section.

Yaragua Tours is a very organized tour group, and at the time, there two other people ready to take the tours (it has to be 2 person minimum). The tour to the cave of El Boqueron costs $40 per person – not exactly cheap, but in the end it’s worth it. The tour group led us out to the caves by drive, and then we had to hike for a short while to get to the cave itself – the surrounding area is lush and beautiful in a forested sense. Finally, the cave was in sight. During the dry season, the river that runs through the caves is at a normal wade-in-water level. However, I had to practically swim to get into the main part of the caves, which was a thrill I wasn’t sure I would get. The cave has magnificent stalagmites and stalactites, and many bats were roosting at the ceilings of the cave. It’s amazing how these beautiful caves are so close to Copan Ruinas, yet don’t get much attention. Being in a little-visited cave system is very rewarding, and El Boqueron was no different. It took us about 3.5 hours to fully explore the cave, and after swimming back out, I felt quite accomplished.

Next, we hiked up to El Rubi. This tour cost us $20 per person. The hike takes us past a nice little village called Santa Rita, and into a forest where you follow the trail to a small canyon. At the end of this canyon, lies El Rubi, which looks quite beautiful pouring through the rocks, forming a long and refreshing pool. The guides also lead us around the forest, where we spotted many birds, and also some more agoutis. Combined together, El Rubi took up 3 hours, which was more than I expected from a beautiful waterfall.

The Yaragua group then took us all back to Copan Ruinas where I once again prepared for the next day. If you’re interested in visiting El Boqueron or El Rubi, I wholeheartedly recommend Yaragua. I must say I’m not much of a tour person, but they got the job done quite well.

La Pintada

La Pintada is a small Chorti Maya community in the hills surrounding Copan. In order to get there, I had to take a tuk-tuk up the bumpy ride to the outside of Copan Ruinas. I had been to Guatemala extensively before: the Maya of that country had my senses booming in wonder – all the colors, the handicrafts, and just the overall atmosphere. I was therefore interested in seeing how the Chorti Maya of La Pintada compared. Of course, I wasn’t expect much – the Lenca and Garifuna, along with the Miskito, Pech, and Tawahka are the main cultural gems of Honduras. However, the experience I had with the Chorti in La Pintada was splendid.

The village is nice and rustic, and as usual, the area surrounding it was impressive. The Maya in this village didn’t seem to speak their original language like the ones in Guatemala, but they were still colorful and friendly.

During my visit, the women of the village showed me how they made their corn husk dolls, and then I had a go at it. At the end, I felt proud of making this seemingly-easy-to-make-but-actually-hard craft. They also showed me how they worked with textiles. After seeing the textiles in Cacao (the small Lenca village near La Esperanza), I was surprised to find that the fabrics made by the Lenca and Maya are indeed distinct in colorful ways. You’d think they are very similar, but the process and end results are charming in different forms. I spent half my day with the Chorti of La Pintada.

Finca El Cisne

Copan Valley is home to several coffee plantations: Finca Santa Isabel and Finca El Cisne being just two of them. After visiting La Pintada, I decided to check in at Finca El Cisne to spend my last 2-2.5 days in Copan Valley.

My fifth day opened my first stay at Finca El Cisne (I was staying for two days for about $143). It started out with a delicious breakfast – the food in every meal is grown fresh right on the farm, so everything felt like it came from its tastiest roots. Next, Carlos, the one who started the agrotourism business at Finca El Cisne showed me and the other travelers the different parts of the farm, and then we got on horseback and went on an amazing tour of the coffee plantations. The property is breathtaking – nature is abounding in the form of several tropical birds and everything felt surprisingly pristine. The coffee tour was spectacular. While on horseback, he showed us the different places where the coffee was grown, and we even got to help collecting it – simply amazing – yet this was only 25-30 minutes into the three-hour horseback ride. Unlike other farms I’ve been to, Finca El Cisne is surrounded completely by the much of the original environment – clouds race through the forests, tropical birds flit among the trees, a lizard or two might reveal itself on a plant, and it was all just simply intoxicating.

We were also shown the cardamom, where we were again allowed to participate in the activities of finca life for plenty of time – working on the plantation feels more like fun as a traveler, rather than just work, so it is very rewarding. Of course, we also participated in monitoring and working with the cattle and other crops. When I thought I could ask for more, we were taken back to one of the houses to have a delicious traditional lunch, for which afterwards we headed out to the hot springs. The springs are not lukewarm – they live up to the word “hot” and are so refreshing after the activities. Later in the evening, we continued participating in activities by corralling horses, collecting materials, and finally, a delicious dinner.

My first day had me excited for my second, and indeed amazing the second day was. As the day before, I woke up with a hearty breakfast, and I was given a few choices: another extensive horseback ride, or hiking around the property. Of course, I chose the horseback tour, since I was totally ready for more. By then, I had a good knowledge about the coffee and cardamom, and was able to help more, and I even learned more about the business than I had already. The rest of the day went by with experiences of helping with the cattle, materials, and by dinner, I was shown the process of roasting the coffee itself – both days combined made an unforgettable experience.

Worth mentioning is that the rooms are also very nice. Not luxurious, but very comfortable and a true insight into finca living. After my last hearty breakfast on the third day, I was done with Finca El Cisne and Copan Valley – I was sad to leave this place of unforgettable experiences – but that’s what next time is for!

Afterwards, I waited for a bus to arrive in Copan Ruinas, and headed over to San Pedro Sula.

CONCLUSION

Will I Return?: Definitely! Why wouldn’t I?

Do I Recommend Copan Valley to Other Travelers?: Yes. Even if you’re not very interested in the Maya, the area could fill up many days of your vacation. It has several adventurous and cultural experiences that have already made me start planning a return trip.

Thanks for the detailed post - a walk down memory lane! I've spent more than a month in Copán so far and am sure to return - a beautiful area.

Great report! Thanks for posting. I liked Finca el Cisne just as much as you!

Wow! Great report. I'm just in the embryo stages of planning a 4 month trek through CA and, after reading this, I'm ready to leave now. Keep them coming!

Thanks for the comments! :)

@ nolabound

Great to hear that you've chosen to explore Central America. Four months seems to be a good time span to visit some of them, but I have a few questions: Are you hoping to visit all of the countries or just a few? Do you have any budget restrictions? What are your interests as a traveler?

This thread might not be the best place to answer these questions, but if you need any help planning your visit, be sure to post your own thread about questions you may have, or ask for feedback about your plan.

Again, thanks to all for the comments. :)

No, not all of them As much as that would be great, I would be exhausted. I would not want to go over $40 a day, less would be better--of course--but I want to be realistic. My interests primarily are Mayan ruins and sites. I originally focussed on Guatemala only with a spin into Honduras for Copan. But then I started to look into other places in Honduras (realizing I'm venturing away from the Mayan territory). Then there is El Salvador--I was there once a couple of years ago (briefly) and always wanted to go back. Then I thought well, Nicaragua is just next door. At this rate, I will soon convince myself that Brazil is just around the corner. Obviously, I am only in the reading and dreaming stage. I'm not looking to get down there until next year. Right now just getting an idea of where I should go, where I could go if feasible, and where I could perhaps skip until a later visit.

But liking your reports!! keep them coming!

@ nolabound:

Good, because even four months wouldn't be enough to savor all the countries (not to mention it's hard to stay around a certain budget in some of the countries).

Since you're very interested in Mayan culture, then Guatemala is indeed going to be your focus: the archaeological and historical sites are breathtaking, and the vibrant Mayan indigenous groups will have your heads turning. Aside from that, there are nice nature opportunities: Peten Rainforest gives you several birds and howler monkeys, and possibly other curious creatures as well.

Honduras's Copan Ruins are amazing as well -- none of the other ruins match the artistry. However, remember that it's architecturally smaller than sites like Tikal -- so don't go to Copan expecting soaring temples. I think I covered that in my trip report, so I won't go any further.

I'm glad to see that El Salvador interests you -- the country isn't very popular but you'll find many beautiful villages, some nice hiking opportunities, and several places to simply unwind. Nicaragua is also a good option -- nice colonial cities, beautiful nature in some areas, and overall an amazing culture to delve in.

Whenever you're near finished with planning, it would be cool if you provided a layout of your plan to us so that we could help see if it'll work well or if we have any suggestions.

Thanks for answering the questions! :)