Day 4

Today we woke up early again and did a little reading before we made breakfast at the hostel. We went out to the ATM and shopped around at the local artisans area before we went back to ViaVia Cafe for a second breakfast that was free with a card that we got the night before. We also bought our bus ticket to Antigua for tomorrow at 12pm which were a little more than we had expected but its our last real travel expense so that is good. We then started walking to the actual Myan ruins of Copan which are a little smaller than some other famous ruins but are still really nice. It took us about 20min to walk to the entrance of the park where we were met by alot of people trying to convince us that their, obviously fake, statues were more authentic than the next guy, but we were smart and said "NO" and kept moving. We payed $15 each to get into the ruins and started walking towards them. Before we got to the entrance we saw a sign that said "nature trail", and we were up for a little Myan adventure. The trail was supposed to make you feel like you were a real Myan indian, possibly tracking a Tabir through the forest to feed your village. About halfway through the trail, we felt so authenticly Myan that we both got naked and took a picture of us stalking the elusive Tabir (pictures to come later). As my father always said, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", so we thought, "Were in a Myan village, so why not do what the Myans did." We finally got to the entrance to the actual ruins and with giant Macaws fliying over head we entered the first main courtyard, which was about 1/8mile long and 200yds wide. There were temples and Stelae all over the place, intricately carved rocks and steps leading up to huge altars that probably had thousands of sacrafices performed on them over the years. It was truly amazing to see an entire civilization build only with man power. There were no giant cranes or dump trucks, just raw man. We spent quite a bit of time there just walking around, taking pictures and seeing the ancient ruins. At one point we found ourselves in an area that most of the rich people lived in and noticing that no one was around we spend some quality time together, alone. After our adventure at the ruins we walked back to town and picked up some fresh vegitables from the market and are going to go back to the hostel and cook some dinner. We are really enjoying our trip so far and will be posting pictures when the mission trip group gets here on thursday. Thank you again for all of your prayers and we are still being safe.

love, peace and happiness to all
cody and Erika

AND AS PROMISED: WHEN IN MAYAN RUINS, DO AS THE MAYANS WOULD DO. WE WERE TRACKING A TAPIR AND HAD TO BE VERY SNEAKY.

BEAUTIFUL STELAE

PART OF ONE OF THE TEMPLES

A COURTYARD

THIS WAS A SPORTS ARENA

JUST CHILLIN

THIS WAS AN ALTAR. THINK ABOUT HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SACRIFICED HERE.

THE SPORTS ARENA

WHERE THE RICH LIVED

BEAUTIFUL TREES

ANOTHER TEMPLE

JOURNALING

MACAWS