We woke up early and enjoyed a traditional Honduras breakfast at our hotel - scrambled eggs, black beans, plantains and coffee then hit the road for a short drive to explore the ruins of Copan.

With the help of an English speaking guide who works at the ruins we learned all about the Mayan culture and the area of Copan - that there is evidence of people living in the area earlier than 1200BC, that over 4500 structures have been discovered, that kings named Smoke Monkey and 18 Rabbit (2 of the 16 kings that ruled Copan) oversaw a population as large as 30,000 people, that knowing only a few bits of information means even we can read parts of the hieroglyphic stairway (the longest known piece of hieroglyphic writing in the Americas) and much more. The 2 hour tour packed more facts into our brains than we can ever remember and allowed us the rare opportunity to climb some of the ancient structures which was pretty cool. We'll download pictures and get them into the Photo Album section on this blog in the next week as it as an amazing site to visit. The picture above is us in front of the Wind God - we thought it was significant being sailors and all.

In the afternoon it was back on the road and heading towards Antigua, Guatemala. It was fascinating to travel through the countryside and see the locals cultivating fields, washing clothes in the rivers or traveling on brightly painted crowded local buses to their destination (think of an old US school bus with livestock AND people).

Once in Antigua we found a nice quiet hotel, stretched our legs from the long drive by exploring the plaza and headed off to get a taste of the traditional beer in Guatemala (called Gallo).