Never Leave the Boat

I’ve thrown a lot of stuff into this e-mail, but the past weeks have had some strange and entertaining glimpses of Central America . Hopefully you will be entertained also.

We are still traveling by bus through Central America . The visa we received when we arrived in El Salvador covers the four original Central American countries of El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras and Nicaragua . Belize was a British territory and Panama was a part of Columbia so they were termed Central America at a later date. We will sail on to Nicaragua next spring and Belize will have to wait until we sail north from the Canal on the Caribbean side. This venture is taking us from Guatemala to Honduras to visit the large Mayan ruins at Copan . It is a long trip to Copan , but we figured if there are going to be ancient ruins anywhere they are going to be a little off the beaten path.

Almost all of the shuttle buses leave Antigua , Guatemala for the 5 hour trip to Copan , Honduras at 4 AM . Too early for Andrea who dug her heels in and insisted there must be a better schedule. So we shopped all of the travel services in town until we found a 1 PM bus. Even better… the bus was ½ the price of the other shuttles. Is that great? A promotion they said. And what do we all know about “if it seems too good to be true?”

We ended up in a beater van set up for 15 passengers (which is all we had if you didn’t need a driver, which we did), top speed 40 mph, and which finally left Antigua at 3PM (but not before all 15 passengers PLUS the driver PLUS the travel agent crammed into the van for a ride to the gas station and then right back to the office. Seems the travel agent had to load us in before she could collect the money for the gas and then she had to go with us rather than giving the money to the driver). 16 people in a van for a 5 hour trip is a very tight squeeze. Our scheduled arrival in Copan was 6 PM . We pulled in around 9:30 .

Along the way we had plenty of uncomfortable time to reflect on our choice of transportation. I was reminded of the gunner on the Mekong River gunboat in the movie "Apocalypse Now" who ventured into the jungle, got spooked by a noise, shot up the trees as he sprinted back to the boat, and then uttered the classic line “never leave the boat”.

But, no, that doesn’t tell it all. We had a reservation at a Copan hotel. We don’t usually travel with reservations, but we knew our arrival would be after dark and we were traveling during the holidays. Why not plan ahead. Of course when we were 3 hours late the hotel gave up the room. No, no other rooms available. No, all the other hotels are full. No, you should have taken the 4 AM van like everyone else.

We did find a friendly Honduran who said he knew of an inexpensive room. So we followed him out into the night, along the cobblestone streets, past the cobblestone streets, up the dirt streets and over the hill to the edge of town where he knocked on a small door set in a single story concrete wall. Inside was a very crude home of grey concrete. We walked past the living room, through the kitchen and out the back door to find four concrete rooms for rent. On the plus side the rooms were nicely decorated, had soft beds and clean bathrooms and suicide showers. By now it was 11 PM so we breathed a sigh of relief and shut the door.

The Copan ruins were worth (almost) all of the hassle. We saw the ancient Mayan temples, royal ball courts, houses and statues built by a society that occupied the Copan valley for over 2000 years and then disappeared in the 12th century leaving no clues as to why they would abandon a populous village or where they went. Three hundred years later the Spaniards wandered by and noted the works of an advanced civilization lost in the jungle, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that a real exploration began. Some of the most remarkable structures have only been uncovered in the past 30 years as they uncover layer upon layer of building. Each new royal family would simply build on top of the previous structures creating pyramids in the jungles that are now being uncovered from the top down or explored through deep tunnels.

We also had one of our more memorable meals in Copan , memorable because of the waitresses. We found a pleasant bar with a restaurant specializing in meats cooked over open fires. We ordered a couple of beers and were trying to work our way through the menu when the waitress reappeared with my beer on her head. Through the course of the evening we watched as all of the beverages were served with at least one glass balanced on someone’s head. Milkshakes, juices, beers, margaritas, even appetizers were transported throughout the room and up the stairs with perfect balance. No trays, no special head gear, just bottles and glasses picked off the bar and placed topside center. Nothing was spilled. The waitresses might carry four or five drinks for a large table, but always at least one drink for each table moved across the room at a higher level. Amazing balance and very entertaining.

We took a much more pleasant van (which we shared with three goofy ladies from Great Britain ) for another 5 hour trip out of Honduras , through Guatemala and back to San Salvador . From there we needed to catch a local bus back to the boat so we headed over to the dirt field referred to in San Salvador as “the bus terminal”. Now I know I have told some bus stories over the past two years, but I have not yet referred to the buses as “chicken buses”. No matter what others call them I do not feel you can refer to your bus as a “chicken bus” unless you have actually been seated next to a live chicken on the bus.

We took the “chicken bus” back to Bahia del Sol (most exclusive resort in El Salvador ) and what a trip it was. The total distance was only 30 miles, but the experience took over two and a half hours. First we had to find the bus terminal. No problem, we had a map. The terminal however turned out to be a large dirt field where the buses started their routes and no one had any kind of printed schedule, price list, or ticket booth. Try to find your bus, climb on, and wait. If it’s a long wait you won’t get lonely because a steady line of food vendors will walk in the front door and out the back door… and they all want to see you. The bus moved along well but the route quickly left the main highway for a circuitous visit to a large number of small villages. The bus regularly pulled over at small intersections so more food vendors could come in the front and out the back, and we even had a surprise change of buses along the route. The bus was packed and, yes, Virginia , there were live chickens on board.

Another aspect of local bus travel in El Salvador is the presence of small groups of cows in the roads and the total disdain the drivers have for the cows and that the cows have for the buses. Apparently the best grass in El Salvador is immediately adjacent to the blacktop because that’s where the cows gather. Of course it could be that this is the free grass and if you are a poor vaquero why should you have to buy land to graze your cows when there is free grass along the road. We also noted that the vaqueros all rode bicycles. You can see that it would be difficult to herd cows on a bicycle if the cows were in fields, but if keep you cows on the roads riding your bicycle is much easier.

We survived this excursion. We recharged ourselves with $1 beers at “the most exclusive resort in El Salvador ”, and we are now preparing boat and selves for our trip home for the winter months. We thoroughly enjoyed this trip through Central America . We have ignored the inconveniences and we have put it all down to “experience”. A very good experience.