Lots of fun=long post

The last couple of days have been a whorl wind. Steve and I were still staying at the Jungle River Lodge on Saturday. It was still raining from the night before when I woke up. I thought for sure the river was going to flooded but luckily I was wrong. I sat in bed reading for a while. It was quite relaxing with the river raging in the background and the rain hitting the tin ceiling. Also the room was screened in so I was getting a nice jungle breeze coming through carrying the tunes of jungle birds. Yes, be jealous. Anyway I read for about two hours and then decided to see if Steve wanted to go hike up the road to see what was up there. He had already been up the road and told me there was a swinging bridge we could cross into the National Pico Bonito Park and go hiking. That sounded like fun so we went off.
The hike was really awesome. There was no one else in the park and we had the trail all by ourselves (if you could call it a trail). The hike took us past some spectacular waterfalls and some amazing veiws. The trail ended at the largest fall which was about 60 meters (-200ft). What was even better was that because of all the rain the falls were really raging, so it was quite spectacular. Anyway the hike lasted about 3 ½ hours which was just enough.

We got back to the lodge and were planning to go on the white water rafting but then they told us that they were not going on their normal route because it was to dangerous, so they were going to a new spot. We had seen that part of the river earlier and there was no white water. It would have ended up as a lazy river ride. No thanks! We decided to save our money, and just take a nap and read. So that is what we decided to do. Later we hiked back up the road to a nicer jungle resort that had internet service and hung around there. They also had a better place to eat so we got a nice meal while we were there. It ended up being a great day. We decided that we had had enough of the jungle though, (the rain was not stopping), and that the next day we would go into La Ceiba and catch the bus to Copan Ruinas. I had originally planned to go there alone, but if we went a day earlier, Steve would have enough time to go too. Before he had to catch his flight in San Pedro Sula.
Anyway we woke up early on Sunday and went into La Ceiba. We thought that the people from the lodge were going to drop us in the actual city but they dropped us on the outside of town and hailed a taxi for us. Of course our taxi driver didn't speak a word of English but kept saying that yes he knew where the Hedman Alas bus station was. Yeah, of course he didn't and instead took us to the regular bus station. There were no buses there so he looks at us and asks us if we want out. Instead I told him to take us to the Hedman Alas bus office. He just looks at me, drives around the corner and points out the regular bus office. We just got out, thinking someone in the regular bus station can help us. Unfortunately I didn't see that the office was closed. Anyway Steve and I decided to sit down and think things through. Meanwhile every taxi that sees us honks and asks us if we need a ride. We do, but have no idea where to go. I told Steve stay with the bags and I would go ask around at the gas station. I finally found someone who spoke English and he informed me that the Hedman Alas office is around the corner, but he really doesn't seem to sure. I go back to Steve and tell him and then we end up hiking up the road. Turns out, of course, it's not just up the road...in fact nothing is. We just sat by the road asking every taxi that went by if they knew where the Hedman Alas office was and finally someone did. They ended up taking us, and the office was just around the corner from where the Jungle River Lodge people dropped us off. At least we finally found it.
Finally we were on the right track, however, there were still bumps along the way. The biggest one being that the office was closed and no buses were leaving. We had totally forgotten that the Presidential election was taking place that day. So it seemed we were stuck in La Ceiba for the day. We decided to make the best of it. However, we had to find a cheap place to stay. We just told the taxi to drop us off at the first hotel which was only a 5 minute walk from the bus office. Luckily they had cheap rooms and we were able to get one.
We had no idea what we could do in La Ceiba for the day, but luckily there was a mall within walking distance that also had a movie theater. So we just wandered around for the rest of the day, took in a movie and then napped. The day actually went by relatively quickly and wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I would have rather, though, stayed in the jungle.
The next morning we woke up at 5:30 to go see the bus office. We had heard they had opened then. However they had opened up 45 minutes before, and we had missed the first bus to Copan by only 30 minutes. We asked when the next bus to Copan left and the guy looked at us and told us he didn't think another one left that day. I was freaking out, because I truly could not spend another day in La Ceiba wandering the mall. However, the man was wrong and the next bus left and 10am. We got our tickets and went back to the hotel to get some sleep. We made sure to set our alarms and be at the bus station an hour before it left.
We didn't have any more problems, thank the Lord, but Steve almost got in trouble. They had collected all our bags that were to go under the bus and both Steve and I had bags we were taking on the bus. However, they had a size requirement that was smaller than on the airplanes. I had my backpack and I tried to make it appear as small as I could. It worked, but when Steve tried to get through with his bag (it was smaller than mine) they told him it would have to go under with the rest of the bags. They were all speaking in Spanish, which he doesn't understand a word of, and they started to take his bag. He finally understood what they were trying to get him to do so he marched over the the bag requirement sign and shoved his bag in the bin until it fit. It was so funny to watch because he was literally pushing it in as hard as he could. When he went to pull his bag out, he couldn't so he started dragging the sign around. Quite hilarious. After dislodging his bag, the officials understood he was not letting go of his bag so they let him board. Of course, he found me already seated laughing my head off.
The trip to Copan was uneventful. It was long and rather boring. The only interesting things I saw on the way was a roadside stand selling fresh turtle eggs and this field filled with small white tepee structures. There were about 50 of these structures and on the tip top of each one was a big fat rooster. It was one of the strangest things I have seen.
Once at Copan we hopped in a small tuk-tuk, and sped off to find our hotel, Iguana Azul. The place was only 11 dollars a night so I wasn't expecting much. Turns out though that the place is quite nice and comfortable. Anyway, we settled in and then decided to walk around the town. There was a festival going on in the central plaza due to the election so we went there and took in the sights. Afterward we went to get some drinks and something to eat. We ended up going to this place called Twisted Tanya which turned out to be owned and run by a bunch of English people. Of course with Steve being from England they hit it off real well. Then they started talking about a true English cup of tea made only with PG Tips. It made no sense to me but they talked nonstop for a solid 10 minutes just about tea.
That night I had a terrible nights sleep. Fireworks were going off and people were running around the streets all night all because of the festival. To make matters worse there was a dog across the street who wouldn't stop barking, then I started hearing cows mooing, and by the time everything else had stopped making noise the roosters were preparing to sound off to start the morning. They started warming up at 4 in the morning. Needless to say I did not get enough sleep.
In the morning (Tuesday) we went and got some breakfast (had great coffee), and then headed off to the Mayan Ruins. We were some of the first people in the park and no one else showed up for a good hour. We practically had the place to ourselves. The ruins were amazing and we spent at least 2.5 hours there. The only mishap that happened was when Steve was backing up to take a picture of a statue and tripped over a wire protecting an altar. I wasn't around but I heard some noise and looked up to see Steve sitting on this Mayan altar. It was pretty funny, because all the ground-keepers ran over to make sure the ruin was okay. Luckily they didn't banish us from the park because this only happened in the first 15 minutes. After going to through the main ruins we decided to walk up the road to the less visited part which is where the Mayan houses were. They were interesting but we had had enough crumbling stones. We headed back to town and went to rest at the hotel. The rest of the day we ended up walking around looking for souvenirs.
The next morning (toady) I woke up at 4:30 to wake up Steve. He had to catch the bus back to San Pedro Sula at 5:15 because his flight home left at 12pm. After seeing him off I went back to bed. The morning ended up being pretty leisurely. I went and had a breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee then headed up the road to the Copan Ruins souvenir shop to get a few t-shirts. Afterwards I head to the hotel to change and then took a hike over to Macaw Mountain. Macaw Mountain is a private reserve that houses tons of parrots and birds that were being illegally sold or mistreated. It ended up being a longer walk than I thought, but it was certainly worth it. The had so many open air aviaries for the birds and you can even walk through some of them. All throughout the reserve is a working coffee plantation. They grow, harvest, and roast there own coffee. It was really neat to be walking through the coffee plants, hearing all the parrots, meanwhile enjoying the smell of the coffee being roasted. Luckily I had brought a book, so I parked myself on a bench and read for a bit. I had also read that the reserve had a swimming hole you could use so I had brought my swimsuit and towel. It was a gorgeous area and there were no other guests there the entire time I was there. I had an amazing time and really didn't want to leave. However, it was getting late and I had a long walk ahead of me.
Once I got back to town I stopped at a well known Comedor, and had a plate of Honduran pupusas. They are practically Honduras's national food and I had yet to try them. They are basically a flour tortilla that has just about anything you want cooked inside them. They were quite tasty. After resting a bit I went back to the hotel and packed because tomorrow I am heading off to Antigua, Guatemala. Hopefully, they will let me across the border.