Notes from Honduras 5

The big event! Brace yourself for way too many pictures! But what's the point of taking pictures if you don't share them with yourself at the very least?

Monday morning we ate a leisurely yummy breakfast at the cafe downstairs (with fresh jugo!), so we made it out to the ruins a little bit later than we'd hoped. By 9:00 am, when we got there, it was already hot and sticky. But at least the sun wasn't too high.

Greg found us a guide. This was a big deal for us! In the past we've been too cheap to hire guides, so we would just do our best with our books and maps. But more than anything, we haven't hired guides in the recent past because we've always had David. He's not an easy-going kid, so when we travel with him, we've found it's infinitely easier to do a family self-guided tour, at our own pace, on our own schedule, without the pressure of someone being privy to our family drama. So what a luxury it was to have our own personal guide, to go slowly (I can't tell you how many castles, palaces, and ancient ruins we've literally run through because of a certain crying, high-maintenance child), and to hear every word without the distraction of whines, dropped toys, or poopy diapers.

Before we set off, our guide (whose name I can't remember!) gave us an overview of the site. Looking at the model, we would start at the top end and work our way to the closer end.

Because of that obsessive-compulsive streak in me, I labeled some of highlights of the ruins for reference (mostly my reference):

Temple 16 is the tallest structure. (Beneath it is Rosalila.)

Temple 11 symbolizes the portal to the underworld.

That stairway is covered with hieroglyphics. More on that later.

More later on the ball court.

And I hope you're excited to see pictures of more Mayan sculpture!

On our way out to the ruins, our guide stopped to point out a young ceiba tree planted a few years ago by a Japanese princess.

I thought it was such a cool tree that I decided to be obsessed with la ceiba.

When it's young, it has very soft bark, so for protection, it grows these freaky spiky things.

As you can see, this next ceiba tree is a little older--you can see that it has fewer freaky spiky things because its bark is getting tougher.

The next tree is three hundred years old!! That beast of a tree hasn't had freaky spiky things for centuries!

When it blooms (which only happens every 4--or 5?--years), the pods are filled with this cottony silk floss.

Cool tree, huh? You will see lots of them in the following pictures, growing on and around the ruins.

When we walked toward the major site, we passed these unassuming mounds. The jungle is filled with them. They are the collapsed ruins of some Mayan structure, covered with jungle. Only 40% of Copan has been excavated. There is Mayan stuff everywhere.

Can you find E.T. in the picture above?

Here is a close-up. There he is, just sitting in the jungle for a thousand years.

Copan today looks nothing like it once did. Everything was plastered and painted in bright colors. But Copan today definitely has its own cool aesthetic. There is no way my pictures capture this, but it is amazing to be walking through the misty jungle (loud with bird calls and buggy hums) and then suddenly there it is. You stumble through the mist onto a Mayan temple. It's a neat experience, to say it lamely.

Here was our first glimpse as the jungle opened up. This is Temple 16.

Move out of the way, please, Husband.

Temple 16 is the tallest structure at Copan. (It's nothing compared to the temples at Tikal, but Copan is all about the sculpture, remember?)

Greg standing in front of Temple 16.
Below is a picture of a corner of Temple 16. (Notice how the trees and its roots have attacked the temple.)

Want to know what's under there? It's Rosalila!

The temple nicknamed Rosalila was so sacred that the new king did not destroy it--instead the temple was carefully encased inside Temple 16. (If you recall, we saw a replica of Rosalila at the museum.)

This is a view of Temple 11 (the portal of the underworld) from Temple 16 across the West Court. Look at the trees taking over the temple. You get the feeling that you cannot fight the jungle.

Next we peered at homes of the elites. At first, archaeologists thought is was a cemetery because they found so many human remains. But soon they realized that the Maya buried their dead next to their houses, not in cemeteries. Below is a view of the most upscale Copan neighborhood.

The elite lived in stone homes with thick walls that supported stone roofs. It seems that these homes were passed down from generation to generation. (Obviously, those not among the elite, lived outside of town in dwellings not made of stone.)

Here is a little closer look a single house.

This is a view from the backside of Temple 16 looking out across the East Court.

This guy, the jaguar, presides over the East Court.

Here we go, down under Temple 16. Do you remember what's down there?

Rosalila! This is the real one:

Then we descended into the Jaguar Tunnel.

An important note on the tunnels. They were built by ARCHAEOLOGISTS--NOT BY THE ANCIENT MAYA. Each successive ruler constructed on top of his predecessor's buildings. (As you can imagine, the city got higher and higher with each new king.) Copan has layers upon layers of ruins. So archeologists tunnel into the ground to investigate why lies beneath. Copan has about 4 kilometers worth of tunnels. We were only allowed to see a small portion of that (and for a hefty fee--but I thought it was worth it).

So what we saw was more sculpture in relief:

And more of that cool writing:

And this:
It's plaster. Everything was plastered. Even the GROUND. So when we look at the acropolis now, the courts are grassy. But in ancient times they would have been plastered and painted white. They Maya performed their religious rituals at night--and with the moon and torchlight reflecting off of that white plastered ground, there would have been plenty of light.

Down, down deeper.
This is some king's steam room. Or toilet.

The kings lived in their temples. (Unlike the ancient Egyptians.) They were also buried there. Somewhere down here were discovered the tombs of the founder of the ruling dynasty, Sun-eyed Green Quetzal Macaw, and his wife.

In the below picture you can see the East Court to the right. To the left is the major landslide site. Centuries ago, the Copan River changed course and took down a huge chunk of the acropolis with it. You can see that steep drop off to the left of the fence.

By this time, the sun was beating down on us. It was hot, hot, hot. And sticky. We found a small shady spot on the steps and took a break.

Are you ready for a break too? I know I am.