Our first of the four Central American countries completed, it was time to bid farewell to El Salvador. Our next country would be Honduras.
We decided that as today would involve various border crossings we would take a shuttle service, rather than the chicken buses. This would also mean a 4 hour journey instead of a 10 hour one - a no brainer really!
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Copan Ruinas (the town) |
We were picked up at 8am and shared the shuttle with another couple (no chickens!). The route we would take from El Salvador to Honduras would actually take us into Guatemala, as it was a more direct route to our next stop, a place called Copan Ruinas. It was a smooth journey and easy crossing in and out of the various borders. Lots more stamps for the passport although I had technically only been in Guatemala for a few hours.
We arrived in Copan Ruinas about midday and trudged round trying to find a hostel. After this we looked round this little market town; a nice cobbled streeted place with a friendly and more relaxed atmosphere, unlike the hustle, bustle (and gun shots) of Santa Ana. The main draw for coming to Santa Ana are the Mayan ruins just outside of town. There are a lot of these dotted through central America, some of the more impressive and famous ones in Guatemala and Mexico, but these are noted to be some of the most detailed and descriptive.
The next day we set off for the ruins and started exploring them. They were impressive and still unbelievable to know how they managed to build such structures centuries ago, with primitive technology. More bizarre is what happened to the entire civilisation, that meant the vast cities were just deserted and overgrown. For my first set of ruins, they were impressive.
We returned into town and mooched round again to explore then little side streets. Whilst doing this we also caught site of a tour (which had also been highly recommended to us by some previous travellers). It was a tour of a local Finca (coffee plantation and house). We decided to book it and take the plunge.
Well the tour at Finca El Cisne was one of the best tours of our entire trip so far; and that is saying something! First we would take an hour's ride out in to the country, this was in true Hondruan style, in the back of a pickup.
Finca El Cisne is a 80+ year old coffee plantation situated in the true hill country of Honduras. The tour is run by Carlos, the 3rd generation of family who now owns and runs the land.
First of all we started with a 2-2.5 hour horse ride through the coffee plants, hillsides and land that Carlos owns.
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Nancy Midgely eat your heart out ! |
Now I know that Kip was really looking forward to the horse riding and had been a number of times before. Me.....well I'd seen a few horses in my time, but the thought of getting on one....nah! I have to say they were very well trained and beautifully kept horses. Not just for tourists, but you could tell that they were work horses and used to roam the land and well behaved.
So we set out on the ride and all was well. We trekked along the dirt tracks in between the various fields and then off onto the land. Up hills, down sidings and through little rivers. All very cool and I did not fall off once! The best bit was on route back to the house at lunchtime, the horses obviously knew where they were and set off, at pace, back home. This was great and i managed to hold on (although I did loose my hat, as I was going at such a cantor).
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Carlos (Doing quality control - the old sniff test) |
We then stopped at Carlos's family home for a cooked lunch, which was amazing to have a proper home cooked meal was a very nice treat ! After a little rest, we took a tour round the coffee plantation and saw the systems and plant that his Grandfather had built many years ago. Unlike the other coffee plantatation/factory we saw, this was a bit more basic, but clever in the use of local water streams channeled to drive the plant. They also used water to sort, grade and wash the beans, during the process. All very clever and nicely setup.
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Ther effects of having cold showers were starting to show.... |
After such a tiring day of playing it was time to go to the local thermal springs and chill out. A little town, a short drive away, we were shown to a series of rock pools that were nicely set out and harnessed the local and natural geothermal springs. Not a bad way to ease the aches and pains of your first horse riding session.
The rest of the group who was with us were taken back to town, whilst Kip and I went to our little home stay for the night. This was a little house we had to ourselves and had another lovely local home made meal cooked for us. We were shattered, so retired to bed early.
The next day we decided that the horse riding was so good that we out to cease the opportunity and do some more. So we did. Another personally guided tour by Carlos, this time with just us and his head hocho for the rancgh. A different route through his vast estate. Another great horse ride and a great end to an awesome trip. Carlos returned us to Copan and we said our goodbyes.
As I say an amazing excursion and something that will definitely be a high light on our travels. Being able to see the non-touristy areas and have such an informed guide it was truly great.