The Mayan Temple Complex at Copan, Honduras

A Scarlet Macaw at Copan, the National bird of Honduras

Our driver Otto picked us up at 8:00 am so that we could get an early start exploring the ruins before it got really hot. It was the perfect time of day and we spent around 3 hours touring the site. We hired one of the official guides, Juan, whose family has been at Copan "forever".  This is one of the most beautiful Mayan sites we've been to and I'd love to come back with my watercolors and do some paintings.  Before coming to any historic location I try and read about the place in advance. I read "Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan" by John Lloyd Stephens. He and Frederick Catherwood visited here in 1841 and it was wonderful to see the original after enjoying Catherwood's detailed drawings. Copan was occupied for 2,000 years and was the capitol city of a major Classic Period Kingdom from the 5th to the 9th Century. At it's peak it had 20,000 inhabitants and covered 100 square miles. It is now a UNESCO heritage site.

We did a lot of hiking around the large temple complex.

Like Quirigua the stele are beautiful and very detailed.

Some are original and others replicas, the originals being
in museums.

We sat at several spots with our guide Juan while he talked about the history of the site. Here we are looking at the ball court.
The final version was completed in 738 AD.

Back in Copan Ruinas we had lunch at Cafe San Rafael. The owner trained as a cheesemaker in the U.S. and makes over 20 types of cow and goat cheeses. We shared a platter of various cheeses, veggies, fruit, bread and crackers for lunch and then took some back to Guatemala with us.  In the afternoon we enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool - it was great to cool off. That evening we had dinner at Carnitas Nia Lola, a nearby restaurant owned by our guide Juan's brother. We had a mixed grill with lots of local accompaniments. And the waitresses carry in the beer and some of the food on their heads - fun!

Our guide introduced us to several archaeologists
working on the site.

The famous Hieroglyphic Staircase - 2200 glyphs form the longest known
Maya text. Figures of the most famous rulers are spaced on the stairs. The
entire area is protected by a tent from the elements.

Many of the buildings still have trees in place. We enjoyed
the shade throughout the complex - very unlike the completely
open Chichen Itza. But there wasn't any grass or trees originally
here. It was all white concrete and red buildings!

The light was wonderful in the early morning.

Heather, Scott, Dennis and Doris on the temple stairs

There were stairs everywhere.

This is the west complex 

This retaining wall protects the Acropolis now but the Copan
River diverted at one point and eroded away a significant
part of the structure.

This relief has been given the nickname "Disco Jaguar" and
it fits!!

Alter Q depicts the succession of 16 kings and is one of the most
famous monuments here.

This crocodile must have just had a good meal.

I enjoyed the beautiful forest all around the site. There are some magnificent trees.

A selection of cheeses at Cafe San Rafael

On the way back from Copan our car lost power and we had to spend 3 hours at a gas station until Otto's friend came to take us the rest of the way. Poor Otto had to arrange a tow back to the Rio. Luckily the gas station managed to give us some lunch; chicken, rice and beans. And Scott and I took a walk up into the countryside and enjoyed views of local farms.
On the way back we did some grocery shopping at the larger supermarket in Morales, about 40 minutes from the Rio. The car was totally packed with ourselves, our baggage and the food.

Our waitress at Carnitas Nia Lola

And a photo taken with some of the other customers. Our guide
from the morning at Copan introduced us around.

A glimpse of the our meal including mixed grill on the left,
fried plantains on the right and rice, beans, salsa and pickled
veggies.

This cow found us equally fascinating!

This is beautiful country, mostly cattle farms.

Quirigua, Guatemala

Scott shows off the height of these stela.  The
highest is 35 feet.

We left Costa Rica on 12/28 and after one night in Guatemala City, took the bus down to the Rio Dulce and our boat, Scott Free. For the last four years we've kept it in the water at Tortugal Marina. More on our time there in another post - but for now, I'll cover our land trip to Quirigua and Copan (in my next post) January 17 to 19, 2017.
Dennis and Doris from "Magic" joined us for the 3 day excursion. Otto Archila (otitoursplus@gmail.com) drove us to Copan, Honduras and back. On the way there we stopped at Quirigua in Guatemala and on the way back, at the Maxi Dispensa Supermarket in Morales. It was about a 4.5 hour drive with a border crossing between Guatemala and Honduras.
Quirigua was a trading hub during the Mayan Classic Period (200 - 900 AD). It's biggest success story was the capture and beheading of the greatest Copan King (whose name is translated as 18 Rabbits). The elaborately carved stelae are among the largest in the New World.
After crossing into Honduras, the Hotel Camino Maya Hotel was our home for two nights and it was very nice. We found it on TripAdvisor and Booking.com - $74 a night with a full breakfast. Our room was very attractively decorated with a large private tiled bathroom. The rooms surrounded a courtyard and balconies overlooked the central plaza.
That night we had dinner across the Plaza with views from the second floor at Twisted. Our meal was excellent and a great deal. We had the special that night which included soup or salad and dessert for the price of the entree alone. It was pork roast with potatoes and veggies. Everything was delicious and beautifully presented (I've included pictures!). Two for one drinks from 5 to 6 pm too.
My next posting will continue the trip to the Mayan ruins of Copan.

Looking down the large main plaza at Quirigua

The Mayan Kings had portraits of themselves
carved into huge blocks of stone with
heiroglyphics detailing their reign.

Lovely shaded walks led throughout the site.

Restored stairs lead up to a raised court 

Doris is a weaver and artist. She had a long
conversation with this weaver from Lake
Atilan region and hopes to connect with her
later in the season.

Scott relaxes after our walk around the Park

These gorgeous flowers in all shades of blue and white
caught my eye.

As did the skirt fabric that Doris bought at the weaver's shop.

The streets of Copan Ruinus were busy with Tuk tuks

Our rooms at the Maya Camino Hotel had views of the
main plaza.

Doris enjoying her Happy Hour  Marguerita at Twisted

Scott's Salad

And brownie ala mode 

The sun lit interior courtyard at our hotel

The main entrance at the Maya Camino Hotel in Copan Ruinus

Roatan to Belize with no Pirates

Scott, Jim and Renate stroll on the north side beach

And cool off in a convenient little "swimming hole"

But first let me relate some exciting moments in our trip this year that haven't been covered so far in my blog posts. They are in the category of our midnight reanchoring in the Cayos Cochinos. First, and the scariest, happened our first night in the West End, Roatan after arriving from Utila and before Julie & Peter joined us. A fierce squall hit us in the evening with gusts up to 30+ knots. The boat sails around normally but with these winds we were really being whipped sideways. At 9 pm while we were sitting in the salon we heard a loud crack, almost like a gunshot. I knew what it was immediately - the mooring line had parted. Now we were among 15 boats on moorings inter spaced in the area between the beach and the reef. Behind us, about 100 feet, was Emerald Seas and behind them about 200 feet was the reef. I ran up to the wheel and Scott started the motor. We were drifting back sideways towards Emerald Seas. I called them on the VHF to let them know the situation. I then managed to turn the boat and motor forward towards the beach. Scott ran up to the bow. It was essential that we not catch the floating mooring lines in our prop and frankly we were just lucky we didn't do it! Once ahead of the former mooring we tried to anchor. The first time it didn't work but it caught the second time. This was all in the pitch black with the wind howling. Meanwhile Jim had launched his dinghy and motored in front of us in his bathing suit and a dive light. He dove in and checked out our anchor and pronounced us safely dug in. It allowed us to sleep soundly that night! Thank you Jim!
The next day we let out some more chain and managed to connect directly to the sand screw on the bottom that had held the mooring. Something we should have done the day before! We cut off the broken mooring  line and discarded it. But we kept our anchor down as well! The news was disseminated (by VHF radio, directly and on the SSB Net) to all the other boats and everyone either/and put down safety lines to the bottom or an anchor. Jim put down 2 anchors as well as being connected to the mooring! Now sadly weeks later a French boat that hadn't heard the news (they didn't speak any English) was on one of the moorings in a squall and later in the night their mooring broke and they didn't wake. The huge catamarin went up on the reef and despite the efforts of 3 cruiser dinghies to help them, was holed and sank!

The water dropped off immediately to 4 ft.

This is a Sea Hare on Jim's hand - cool eh?

The beach stretched on for a long time

Another entrance to the beaches along the canal

The view of Emerald Seas behind us at Port Royal

The second rough night happened a few weeks later in Jonesville Bight while anchored with Emerald Seas, Expectations and Eiland. Again a fierce squall hit us around 11pm (the same one that wrecked the catamarin in the West End). I woke up and was keeping an eye on our position (we were all anchored) when I heard Eiland trying to reach Expectations on the VHF radio. Expectations (a big catamarin) was dragging their anchor and moving slowly towards Eiland. The rest of us went on deck and used spotlights and noise makers to alert Dave & Carmen to their danger. They must be heavy sleepers. It took Uli from Eiland in his dinghy to pound on the hull to wake them. Luckily they weren't moving fast and were able with Uli's help to put out a second anchor and stabilize. The last exciting night was our overnight trip to Belize. But first let me fill in some lovely times. After Julie and Peter flew back home we joined the other 3 boats in Jonesville Bight and had the adventure just covered. Besides that we explored the series of bays connected by canals and enjoyed another BBQ at McNab's and socialized among ourselves. We enjoyed Uli & Imke on Eiland, Dave & Carmen on Expectations and Jim & Renate on Emerald Seas a lot this season.
 After the weather settled down the first two boats headed back to French Cay Harbor, and Emerald Seas and ourselves sailed up to Port Royal where we spent an idyllic week. We anchored in the furthest east end of the bay just off of the reef. It was very protected from the strong trade winds that revved every afternoon into the evenings. Scott, Jim and Renate did a number of great dives, we all swam and snorkeled and explored the area by dinghies. The best trip was heading east through connecting canals from our anchorage through Old Port Royal Bay, Mr. Field Bay and then through a long mangrove lined canal over to the north side of the island. The long beach here is protected by an offshore reef and is a lovely spot as you can see from the photos.
 Finally we sailed down to French Cay Harbor and anchored for several nights, doing some shopping and getting the boat ready for company. Our great friend Russ Wolf was flying into Roatan for a few weeks visit. More bad weather was predicted so we joined Emerald Seas at the Fantasy Island Marina. This bad weather kept getting postponed and we became concerned about our coming overnight voyage to the Rio Dulce. Chris Parker has been our weatherman for most of our time on Scott Free. We listen to him every morning on our SSB radio and often talk to him about our weather concerns or trips. Our deadline to enter the river was just over a week away when he became concerned about our getting there. Increasing trade winds with gusts up to 35 knots and the increasingly large waves that went with this forecast stretched out for an indefinite time. His advice was to leave ASAP and wait in Belize or Guatemala for our high tide crossing of the Rio Dulce. So Russ arrived on Friday and we left the next morning for Belize. He did have a chance to enjoy several swims and snorkeling at the beautiful resort before we left. And some time enjoying Jim and Renate's company too!
 It was a rough trip. The winds were on our stern quarter and gusty. The waves were confused and often large. One rouge wave piled up behind us and dumped a load of water in the cockpit. Unfortunately the hatch over our bed was open and the water dumped in. I frantically pulled the sheets and mattress covers off the mattresses. One of the memory foam toppers got wet but the other one and the underlying mattresses didn't. None of us felt much like eating, especially that evening. It was wonderful to have the calm company of Russ and sharing watches with 3 people is a lot nicer than 2! When it got dark we first double reefed both the main and jib and later took in the jib. Even under just a double reefed main we were still going 5 knots! But the motion was a lot easier then.
 After midnight it calmed down some and around 1:30 am we pulled behind Glover's Atoll (an atoll 12 miles off the Belizian reef system) and sailed slowly up and down, waiting for the dawn to continue on through the reef entrance at South Water Cay. Going up north to the middle of Belize was way out of our way but we did so for 2 reasons. First the boat sailed better and the seas were easier pointing that direction but second, we wanted (particularly I wanted) not to worry about PIRATES. Two weeks before there was a second incident of pirates boarding a cruising boat off Honduras. This second one was quite violent and although no one was seriously hurt, the boat was run up on the beach and totaled. Our route took us no closer than 30 miles from Honduras and that was a safe distance. It was easy entering the reef and we motored in calm seas now over to Blue Ground Range Cay, anchored and had a terrific breakfast. More to come in another post!

Heather, Jim, Renate and Scott

Russ, Heather and Scott

Cayos Cochinos, Honduras

Julie and Peter Gowan, our Kiwi/Aussy friends

 We met Peter and Julie years ago in Marathon, FL and buddy boated with them and their catamaran "Anything Goes" in the Bahamas for some glorious months. Since then they've visited us in Vermont and Maine and sailed from Guatemala to Mexico for 2 weeks several years ago. Last January we visited them at their condo in Punta Gorda, FL. This time they flew to Roatan and vacationed with us there and in the Cayos Cochinos.
We rented a car for 2 day,s when they first arrived, and drove down to Jonesville Bight to meet our friends on Expectations and Eiland. They took us through a series of canals joining a number of bays along that coast. We stopped in BJs Bar, the Hole in the Wall Bar and McNab's for their Sunday BBQ. After a few nights in West End enjoying the wonderful beaches and water, we sailed down to the Cayos Cochinos for several days. These consist of 2 small islands and 13 other small coral cays located 20 miles off the Honduran coast. They are part of a Marine Park and have only 108 inhabitants.

Julie & I at the lighthouse on Roatan

Uli, Julie, Imke and Carmen as we cruise the canals

Sometimes they are wide and lined by homes

BBQ Sunday at McNab's Restaurant, Jonesville

Shrimp boats lined up (love the little guy in the center)

Scott, Heather, Julie and Peter

And sometimes they are narrow and lined with mangroves

Uli center, then Julie, Peter, Scott, Carmen, Imke, Dave and I

Our Bus Berkley routine!

Scott chats with the Marine Reserve officials

Resting at the lighthouse, now unfortunately closed

The steep descent to the east side of the island

Sunset from our anchorage at Cochinos Grande

The front terrace at Turtle Bay Eco Resort

The traditional double ended launchas at the east end

Most of the houses are built of scrap wood

We anchored off Cochinos Grande in the bay at the west end of the island. It was very hard to get a good spot for the anchor and we had to try several times before seemingly being set for the night. Not long after that the Marine Park officials showed up to collect their fees - $20 each person for up to one month (It's $10 per person for one night).
That night I woke up to the sound of coral bumping under neath our hull. I bolted up and discovered from our depth sounder that we were in shallow water. The wind had shifted 180 degrees moving our boat onto the reef. Our weather man Chris Parker had forecast steady east winds all night. Oops!
We put on the engine and Scott used the anchor winch to pull us off and towards the deep water where our anchor was set. Now it was a pitch black night and only 2 lights on shore to steer by. After 2 tries we anchored in deep water in the channel into the bay. Scott set the anchor alarm and we all managed to get back to sleep. Julie and Peter were very helpful during the crisis and everyone was pretty calm. There was hardly any wind so no real danger - just tiring in the middle of the night!
The next morning we were into the Turtle Bay Eco Resort and our problems were solved in one swoop. Their terrific Manager Clement pointed out the safe mooring off their dock and we moved there immediately.  When we asked about hiking he volunteered to lead us that very afternoon and arranged a tour of the Garifuna community on a nearby cay for the next day.
Two couples from the resort joined us on the hike up to the lighthouse and then across the island to the east end (down a very steep hill). A small village of Honduran/Garifuna fishermen and their families perch on the beach behind a nearby reef. They have a one room schoolhouse for primary school children. We met the charming teacher who showed us around. The walk back around the perimeter of the island was really beautiful with some lovely beaches separated by rocky steep sections. It was a challenging walk at times but lots of fun.
We became good friends with one of the couples, Yunus and Nan from Toronto, and had dinner with them at the resort the next night. We joined them on the resort launcha over to the Garifuna village, built on a tiny sand island nearby. The island had no vegetation and seemed totally exposed. One storm and the whole thing would be swept bare - and has been. They just rebuild.
The Garifuna people are descendents of African, Island Carib and Arawak people that refused to bow down to the European invasion. The French expelled them from their islands to St. Vincent and Dominica where they lived until the English invaded. After an unsuccessful rebellion those more noticeably African in descendent were deported to Roatan. The 2500 who survived the

This little girl was fascinated by strangers in the village

The one room elementary school

journey were too many for the small island and later successfully petitioned the Spanish to immigrate to the mainland. Today there are around 600,000, many in the U.S. The Garifuna language is a member of the Arawakan language family but atypical due to it's being spoken outside the Arawak area and it's unusually high number of loan words. Half is Arawakan, one quarter Carib and the rest a mixture of French, English and Spanish.
It doesn't take long to walk around this tiny island and in fact visit every hut. People are very friendly and we met a young European couple that were staying there for several days - sleeping in a hammock and sharing the local food. A number of the young children had necklaces and other things made of polished wood and shells for sale.
Our good friends David and Carmen on "Expectations" joined us for one night. On the way there Dave caught a huge wahoo which he proudly showed off when they arrived (see photo).
The next day we left mid morning for a lovely sail up to French Harbor on Roatan where we tied up for a night at the French Harbor Yacht Club. Luckily we have air conditioning so it was a pleasant last night for Julie and Peter. It was sad to say good-bye the next morning but we look forward to our next adventure together!

This mural was painted by a man with no arms

Clement joins the sea scape

Our group on the main "street"

Julie checks to see I'm still behind on the trail

Which follows the coast line.

We had some steep climbs over cliffs

It's hard to show how steep it was here

Beautiful beaches one after another

Dave's Really Big Fish - a wahoo

The tiny island home of a Garifuna village

Crowded with small huts

Where about fifty people live

Most of them are built of palm fronds

The kids are great salespeople!

The boats are mostly wood

The "cafe" is getting a thorough cleaning with sea water

This charmer made several sales

The main and only "street"

Unorthodox clothes drying system

The sunset at the West End - pretty dramatic

Dinner at Turtle Bay Eco Resort

Adam, Christine, India and Clement - terrific folks!

Scott Free at anchor at Cochinos Grande at sunset