Antigua – Panama City II

El Salvador to Honduras via Guatemala – 24th Oct 19

Sadly, we leave Suchitoto this morning, but not before a tour of the museum and arts centre of our hosts, Centro arte para la paz and its inspirational Director, Sister Mary.

Arts & culture are very important for community cohesion and as a therapeutic intervention for the town post-civil war.  The exhibition of work is thought provoking.

Today, we exit El Salvador at Anguiatú, enter Guatemala at Anguiatú, exit Guatemala at El Florido and enter Honduras headed for the town of Copan for 2 nights.  We stop for lunch in Guatemala at a local roadside restaurant where Jules negotiates a tasty lunch with a drink for £2.50. In Central America, virtually every meal comes with black beans and I hadn’t realised quite how much I liked them. Brownie, on the otherhand currently despises their regular appearances and refuses to eat them.

We arrive in Copan and go for a group meal. The restaurant fatally has a dance floor and a small group of us are thrown out close to midnight!!  Copan is a beautiful cobbled easy walking town, surrounded on 4 sides by lush green hills.  It’s also home to a large complex of Mayan ruins.

Friday 26th October

The ancient ruins of Copan are the southern most of the great Mayan sites for which Central America is famed. The area was populated by Mayans coming from the region of Tikal, and the city flourished as a major Classic period kingdom between the 5th and 9th Centuries. Copan developed a distinctive sculptural style, and the site is unique due to the 21 columns that have been found there that are heavily carved with reliefs depicting the passage of time and the lives of the Royal families. There are also a number of small pyramid shaped temples and excavated vaults.

Saturday 27th October
Today we leave mainland Honduras for the island of Roatan.  The largest of the Bay Islands, off the coast of Honduras and one of Central America’s most scenic spots. This archipelago of coral islands set in the sparkling Caribbean is known for its laid-back atmosphere, and the culture of the seafaring islanders is very distinct from that of the mainland.  We’re here for 3 nights so can’t wait to go to the beach.

Our almost private plane with the exception of 3 locals.