It is getting hotter every day. The good news is that the evenings are still reasonably comfortable as long as you have a fan on you. I can live with the heat during the day but CAN NOT sleep well when it is hot in the evening.
I did get some much needed relief from the heat in the mountains where we visited last week. Two other couples and myself took a three day tour on the Mayan ruins in El Salvador and Honduras and on the last day we visited a colonial city of Antigua in Guatemala. Three countries in three days is easy given the small size of these Central American countries.
Before I take you through our tour I want to share with you some photos of a small village that I visited. The towns name is Zacatecaluca. You pronounce it Za-ca-tay-ca-lou-ca. Repeat the name three times while speaking fast and see if your mouth gets twisted. A two hour ride on the chicken bus to this village can turn a non drinker into an alcoholic. Load music, horns, hot and crowed not to mention the many stops along the way to pick up other passengers along the road. There are no such thing here as bus stops. You hold your hand out as the bus approaches and they stop or should I say slows down. You have to grab the hand rail as the bus moves by and jump on hoping not to miss the step. If you miss the step you might get dragged along to the next stop where you can try your luck again. Nobody misses! They are pros at getting on and off buses.
The town has two streets that are parallel to each other with the one remaining street that is the road through town. As small and remote as the town is, it is surprisingly modern is some parts of town. Modern grocery store in a strip mall with clean and modern stores selling cloths, electronics, restaurants and such. On the other end of the scale there is the always present central market were again you can find everything from produce, meat, shoes, baskets, etc etc. I also found a hair salon to get a much overdue haircut. The cost for a haircut was $1.50. OK, no bald jokes.
As in all cities, large or small, one always finds a large Catholic church. These churches are always near the center of town next to the central park and market. This area is where most of the day's activities occur. Churches that I have visited here in Central America are not as elaborate as those found in Mexico. One can only assume that this is the case given that these countries are poor compared to Mexico.
The bread, fresh out of the oven and ready to eat. I must say that the Central Americans do know how to make good bread. Mexico has yet to find out how to make bread that is not dry and bitter. Sorry Hector, Mexico losses a point here and Central America picks up a point. A little side note. The roads down here are MUCH better than what you must drive on in Mexico. Central America picks up another point and is now tied with Mexico. My son-in-law wants to to score the pluses and minuses between Mexico and Central America.
This is inside the central market.Narrow walk ways with little spaces to each side were food and goods are sold.
Tortillas here are made much thicker than there cousins in Mexico. I would guess that they are about four times thicker than Mexico's but they are not used for tacos. You cannot buy a taco here. These tortillas are stuffed with either chicken, beans or cheese are a combination of some or all of these ingredients. If made correctly, they taste GREAT. It is considered the national dish and are called pupusas.
So let's move onto the subject of the Mayan tour. Our tour guide was great. He shared with us much of the history of the area going back to 600 BC and onto the events of the recent civil war of which we were part of. The good news is that the people here do not hold a grudge against us Americans with possible exception of Ollie North. This news is finding its way back to America and more Americans are arriving here and Nicaragua every year. Many El Salvadorans are in America working and sending their money down here to there families or making investments back in their homeland. 40% of the national gross income here is from money sent here from the US. This is the reason why they changed their currency to the US dollar.
Much of the information about the life and history of the Mayans is lost thanks to our friends in Spain. They ordered the destruction of all of the writing that existed not long after they took over this land. They also ordered the peoples here not to practice their traditions, wear traditional clothing, and practice only the learning of the catholic church. If they chose to ignore these orders, they were taken off and killed. To this day you see the results of this in that there is very little known about the Mayans and there is little traditional culture in evidence here in El Salvador. The exception is Guatemala where it is much more colorful in the clothing people wear. Guatemala is the first of the Central American countries that was taken over by the Spaniards.
Below is a photo to give you at little perspective of our tour route through the three countries.
Have you wondered where Cashews are from? Guess no longer. They are grown on trees and are a seed at the end of a flower. This has nothing to do about the Mayans. These trees were along the path.
Coffee here is one of the main crops grown in the region along with sugarcane. Here is what coffee looks like before you find it at Starbucks. There are several beans found in each of these pods.
The first ruins we visited are in El Salvador are called San Andres dating back to 600 A.D. To this day they have not found any graves or evidence that there was anyone here. It is thought that they fled the area before the site was covered in lava from a volcano that erupted. The photo below is of a bedroom that two people used. I thought my boat was small. As you can imagine, people back then were very small
This is part of the temple. These ruins are still being dug up as money becomes available. It also takes a lot of time to bring these areas back to life without destroying them in the process.
The roofs were destroyed from the volcano. what remains are fallen walls and pillars. It is interesting to note that the dimensions of the pillars are similar to those used in buildings to this day.
This is thought to be the residence of the high priest since it is the only one found with a window. You should see sticks that are coming out of the walls. Just as today, re-bar was used in construction of the load baring walls. Instead of steel they used bamboo. They were tied together is the same manner that you find used today.
Well that is all for today. Tomorrow I will put together the next stop in our tour. The town of Copan and the oldest ruins and temple of the Mayans also called Copan.
I am back. Last evening a women from Canada, who has a house on a small island here, had a benefit dinner for the children on the island. She helps teach English at the small school and through donations, also teaches some computer usage skills. There is no electricity on the island so we ate dinner with the light from Tiki lamps.
Copan is a beautiful small town that is very near the ruins which takes the same name. We only stayed in town one evening so did not have much time to explore but I did find cigars, good cigars from Honduras, that were comparatively cheap from all other stores in Mexico. I want to go back here and stay a few days do I can visit more of the town.
This is the hotel we stayed at. The rooms were comfortable, with air conditioning and hot water in the showers as long as you were one of the first to take a shower in the morning.
This is the town square near the hotel.
These are the two couples that I joined on the tour. We had a great time together. Here we wait for some beer after a long day on the road and a 2 1/2 hour tour.
The restaurant we ate at was very unique. Here the cook is using a bellows, much like the old black smiths used in the old west. She heats up the fire with forced air to help prepare the meal.
This is what I mean when I say unique. Here you see the waitress with a drink balanced on her head. She will walk up a flight of stairs from the kitchen on the first floor holding drinks and or plates in her hands while balancing drinks on her head. Do not try this at home unless you are prepared to pick up the mess.
Look good doesn't it. I would not call this a traditional Honduran dish.
This is the church in the town of Copan.
Now let me take you through some photos taken of the ruins. The ruins that have been restored are only a fraction that exists and yet to be uncovered. It was a huge city at the prime of its existence.
Here is a model of the area that should help give you some perspective of the size and the different buildings. What you don't see in the model are the areas outside of the temple walls were the common people lived and raised their families. They were the slaves that built the city. Only the wealthy lived within the center which was walled for security and the means to keep to poor people out until they were checked in for their work day. Things haven't changes much to this day. We call them gated communities.
These are places where they have yet to uncover. There are many like these some of which are only noticeable mounds that mark locations of yet another ruin.
Let me just scroll through some of the photos I took around the site. They are too numerous to put together on the blog.
These are locations that have been recovered. This ruins are called the Paris of the Mayan ruins because of the many carving and etching on the stones.
Some small visitors
This is what was found beneath one of the pyramids. It was untouched and the colors were still as vibrant as they were when first painted. Visitors are not allowed to visit the chambers.
The wall to keep us little people out.
Where the first soccer games were played.
This is thought to be a carving of the local shaman. I am not sure the spelling is correct but he was the healer and practiced magic.
This only scratches the surface of what we viewed and experienced. You will have to come down here to see and experience more. Let me know when you have your flight scheduled and I will meet you at the gate.
Well that is enough for today. I was going to add stories and photos taken in Guatemala but on second thought it might be better to break it up so it doesn't take as long to view and read the blog. Tomorrow I will sit down and complete the next blog covering the last day of our tour.
