the sojourn: Day 3 12/12/09

Sorry it has taken me a day to post this, but the internet hours here are kind of weird. So we woke up in the morning pretty early, about 5am and packed up our stuff and then headed to eat breakfast with Tarin and Nick before they left for the mountain and we left for Copan Ruinas. After breakfast they started walking to the base of the mountain and Erika and I took a quick detour to an old fort that had been build to help protect the city. It was very simple but had a lot of significance to the city so it was nice to see that. We made it down to the bus station and were coralled onto a bus going to Santa Rosa. We had to go there because we miscalculated our money again and werent going to be able to make it all the way to Copan with the money that we had. About 10min into the ride a woman and her three daughters, or grand daughters ( its hard to tell peoples age around here) got onto the bus. Because it was so crowded one of the little girls had to stand so Erika and I squished over toward the window and motioned for her to sit with us, she obliged. We both guessed that she was about 4 or 5 so Erika asked her and it turned out that she was actually 10yrs old. Because she was so short she could not see over the back of the seat, and about 20min into the ride she got real sick. She threw up a few times into a plastic bag and was so embarassed that she just kept her head in her hands and cried. Her mother was not consoling her, which to us seemed odd, so Erika rubbed her back for a few minutes and ensured her that she was ok.
After we got off the bus in Santa Rosa, we lucked out and found an ATM right next to the bus stop, instead of walking a mile into town to try and find one. We took out some more money and jumped on a bus going to La Entrada ( our connection town). Without fail this was another interesting trip. The hills were so steep and the bus was so old that the bus driver had a difficult time keeping us at a safe speed. He had the floor brake pressed all the way to the floorboard, he was using the transmission to help slow us down, and much of the time he was using the emergency hand brake to assist as well. It brought a whole new meaning to "emergency". Although we had three methods being used to slow us down, there were many times that I wasnt sure if we would stay on the road or not, but nonetheless we made it to La Entrada in one peice. As soon as we got off the bus there were at least 100 locals trying to sell us something, food, souveniers, tickets, etc. We were finally jammed into another chicken bus going to Copan Ruinas and this one managed to show us why they are called chicken busses. The man sitting next to us had a box with him and there was a strange sound coming from it. Tiny little chirping noises led us to the conclusion that he had baby chicks with him. A little later in the trip he moved his backpack onto his lap where two full grown chickens had their heads poking out gasping for air, and looking terrified as well. We continued on the windy and usually unpaved road towards our destination and about 30min from Copan, the man with the chickens got off the bus. When he got off he had his backpack and box of baby chickens but he also had a white rice bag with the head of a cat sticking out of it. What was funny is that the sun was directly behind the bag and you could see the silhouette of the poor feline spread eagle, trying to clamber out of his bag, it was sad but funny at the same time. We finally arrived in Copan Ruinas and after walknig around for a few minutes finally settled on a little place called "hostal en la manzana verde", or the green apple. It is a really nice little place with dorm style rooms and a shower that is supposed to be hot, but like the "hot" springs, it was more luke warm. We unpacked and did some laundry in the pila (outdoor wash room) and then headed out to wander the town. We also noticed that we were right across the street from an Adventist Church, but since neither of us can really speak spanish, there would be no point in going over there. We ended up at ViaVia Cafe and sat at the bar for a little while and met a new friend. His name was Marchello and most people would look at him and only see a cute little tabby cat, but he sat on the stool next to mine and we struck up a real friendship. As long as I petted him on the back of his neck or under his chin he was very nice to be around, but anywhere else and he turned in to a real (as his owner said) asshole. We left ViaVia Cafe and headed back to the hostel for some sleep that was much needed after our day of traveling.

OUTSIDE OUR HOSTEL AT HOTEL ERICK