copan ruinas

floating face guy
Originally uploaded by sparkypants.

the walk from the town of copan to the archeological site was lovely. there´s a coblestone pathway with a few stelae (maya statues) behind fences alnog the way. unfortunately the weather made for bad lighting so a lot of our pictures really suck. but the place is amazing. there´s huge trees- la ceiba trees, which have a story of their own- vines and all kinds of house plants. then you walk out into an open field. 'the great plaza' a huge space cleared and leveled by the maya and with a large pyramid in the center, surounded by about eleven stelae and altars. then there´s the hieroglyphic stairway. the longest enscription ever found in america (pre-columbus). and the ball court. then you go up to the secold level 'the acropolis' which is built upon older buildings. they have tunnels under the acropolis that you can tour, but we didn´t spend the money. it started pouring while we were there. just our luck. and the museum was closed for remodeling. a lot of the original scuptures have been moved indoors, and reproductions replace them outdoors. but walking around the ruins was like a giant outside museum anyways. click the floating face guy to see more pictures.