Honduras - Marvellous Macaws in Maya World

March 28-29

Hello everyone!

I’ve been lucky enough to travel and explore most of Central America during three-and-a-half years of living in El Salvador. One that I haven’t spent a lot of time in is its northern and eastern neighbour: Honduras.

Scarlet macaw in flight

Copán Ruinas

There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is the fact that, since mid-2024, British nationals need a visa to enter Honduras. I’m pretty sure that makes it the only country on the continental Americas that adds this layer of bureaucracy. Multiple trips to the Honduras embassy in San Salvador eventually resulted in acquiring a visa. The hoops to jump through aren’t that extensive but it’s reminded me how lucky I am to have a passport that enables me to travel much of the world with relative freedom.

We passed through Honduras in 2023, pre-visa, when driving to Nicaragua

The Honduras embassy - yes, it's essentially a house

Armed with my colourful visa, Hannah and I flew to the large Honduran city of San Pedro Sula. It does not have a great reputation, often being referred to as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. We weren’t sticking around, instead driving 5 hours south to a town near the Guatemalan and Salvadorean borders: Copán.

Our plane was interesting, seemingly
sponsored by Surf City in El Salvador

Getting to Copán from San Pedro Sula is almost the same distance as from San Salvador

This journey, in inclement weather, showed us some interesting aspects of driving in Honduras. The cows and horses on the sides of - and sometimes in the middle of - the road. The stunning scenery as our Mitsubishi climbed into the mountains. The number of people that can be squeezed into the back of a small pick-up. The deterioration of some parts of the road into rivers of mud.

That is a horse we are about to pass

You should have seen the other road...

The target town was called Copán Ruinas (we’ll call it Copán from this point): the name may offer a clue as to why we were here. Its central park is cute, flanked by a bright white church, cozy food joints and a museum.

Central Park in Copán

German restaurant: good beer! 

The following morning, we visited the aforementioned ruins, which are some of the largest and most renowned from the Mayan world. Copán was one of the great cities of Mesoamerica and was a powerful centre for hundreds of years. To give you an idea of how far back we’re going, they were ruling this section of the world at the height of the power of the Roman Empire in Europe and north Africa.

Copán existed as a Mayan stronghold from roughly 200 CE until the Mayan collapse between 900 and 1000 CE

Copán is renowned as a historical site for the sculptures that have been discovered

Its zenith was a little after this, arguably between 650CE and 900CE. During those eras, under leaders with translated names such as King Rabbit and King Smoke Shell, the large monuments that are treasured by historians and visitors today were constructed.

Removing the head was common, to destroy
supernatural powers embodied within the figure

Altar Q depicts the 16 kings of Copán's time of power, who reigned from 416 to 810 CE

One of these is a staircase called ‘Escalinata de los Jeroglíficos’. This is an ascension of 63 or 64 wide steps that are engraved with Mayan glyphs. These glyphs tell the Mayan history in this area under many of the kings up to 755 CE. Well, they would in their original form. When archaeologists found the crumbled, scattered pieces of the staircase, they hastily put it back together…and it’s now in the wrong order, so yet to be truly deciphered.

The first 15 steps are in order as they hadn't fallen
away - that's how archaeologists know what this is

It is nearly 30 metres high and contains about 2,000 glyphs

You can imagine how impressive this structure would have looked at the time, towering over the town as it touched the heights of the tallest trees. There is another staircase nearby, from the top of which you can begin to appreciate the scale of Copán.

The trees growing through the stone is remarkable in itself!

View of the ball court and stairway, which is protected by a tarp

That view overlooks the main plaza, which contains the central pyramid and ball court. I have seen ball courts in Mayan sites in El Salvador and Mexico before; Copán’s court is a little different. The thinking is that a team would score points not by putting a ball through a hoop, but by hitting one of the stone carvings of a macaw that dotted the side slopes. Also, unlike Cihuatán, it was the losers here who would be sacrificed.

There have been three versions of the ball court -
I thought of it in terms of renovating football stadia

The first one was created in 731 CE

Macaws are a big deal in Honduras; the scarlet macaw is the country’s national bird. They were evidently also a big deal for the Mayans who resided here. The colourful bird was sacred and highly valued.

Macaws, or guacamaya, were seen as
representing sun, fire and divine power 

Scarlet macaws' range is from southern Mexico to Brazil

Copán has a bird sanctuary, called Macaw Mountain, that has worked tirelessly to preserve and improve the population of the birds in this part of Honduras. We were planning to visit after seeing the ruins. We didn’t realise that phase two of their project was rewilding them…at the ruins…

Macaws are monogamous

According to Macaw Mountain, there are now more than 100
scarlet macaws flying over the ruins and valley below

Their colours are startling. Initially, the lighting didn’t help us see their spectacular plumage, but different angles and the sunshine finally breaking through allowed us to enjoy their true colours.

Feathers were used as currency when trading with other Mayan cities

There are many other birds here, such as parakeets

Mayan kings would undoubtedly have used macaws as part of their decor. These men and their families lived in the Acropolis, an area in the eastern part of the Copán complex. I didn’t see the most interesting element of this section, as this is under the rocks. Mayans would build on and over existing structures, including temples. Archaeologists tunneled under a large pyramid and found a shrine, nicknamed ‘Rosalila’. There is a full-size replica of this in the ruins’ museum.

This section is adjacent to the river, erosion from
which caused the collapse of many buildings

The elaborate stucco panels were covered with plaster to protect them

This particularly horrifying thing is a 'water bird', with
that ghoulish human head being the body of the bird

Copán isn’t as frequently visited as the other ‘big’ Mesoamerican sites, such as Tikal and Chichen Itza. I find each place has its own unique charm: Palenque in Mexico was unique as it was hidden in the rainforest, for example. Copán is a special and, based on visitor numbers, underrated gem that showcases amazing elements of the Mayan history and culture. Plus, having stunning birds flying overhead as you take in the centuries of glory isn’t a bad thing, either…

Imagine being the first European to come across this!

Enjoying going back in time

Motmot, known as a 'torogoz' in El Salvador,
where it is the national bird

Stunning scarlet macaws - what a treat!

Love you all,

Matt

El Salvador - Born to Rum

March 14

Hello everyone!

When you think of rum, you probably think of palm trees gently swaying on Caribbean islands. But some things can be created in the strangest of places…

Sitting on thousands of dollars worth of rum

Enjoying a rum cocktail at Cihuatán rum distillery

El Salvador isn’t known for producing alcohol. The beer they make here is bang average - there’s a reason we usually drink imported cervezas from Guatemala or Nicaragua. The country is more widely known for its coffee: sorry, it’s ‘Bean of Fire’.

Toña is from Nicaragua

Good coffee, though I think Mini is keener for the cake...

There is one part of the country that produces its own rum. In the north of the country, near the old colonial city of Suchitoto, there is a small factory that crafts rum. Rum that you can find in the supermarkets here and is surprisingly nice. The name of it: Cihuatán.

The drive from Santa Tecla to Suchitoto is about 2 hours

Their 375 ml bottle is a very easy present
to take out of El Salvador

If you follow this blog and have a photographic memory, you may recognise that name. It is the name of a Pre-Hispanic archaeological site that I visited in 2023. A very short distance from ‘one of the most important archaeological sites in Central America’ (like I said in that blog, a very bold claim from the Ministry of Culture) is its eponymous rum factory.

'Rum of Mayan Gods', according to the distillery

From the Nahuatl language 

Evidently, the Mayans were not drinking rum and cokes in 900 CE. Cihuatán rum was started in 2004 and is (according to them) the only rum distillery in the country. The name comes from a distant mountain which, if you squint at it, could look like a woman lying down. Cihuatán therefore means ‘next to the woman’. You probably see this more after finishing a tour of the rum distillery, which includes some tasting.

Can you see a woman? Can you?

Maybe this would help...

As it is in the middle of nowhere, the easiest way of doing this tour was to base ourselves in Suchitoto and hire a minibus to take us to and from the distillery. Hannah and I went for a cheaper option of a place to stay, the consequence of which was us rocking up on Saturday morning to a passionate Bible service that was happening in the B&B’s main hall.

This lovely puppy was also staying at our B&B

Suchitoto is a nice enough place, full of history and plates. Over the last few months, they’ve renovated the main square and given the church a bit of a clean.

Suchitoto, with its cobbled streets and Qute cars 

Suchitoto in the indigenous Nahuatl language
means 'place of birds and flowers'

After a quick coffee and snack, we were on our way west to enjoy an afternoon with rum in the sun. Sun, heat and humidity are needed to cultivate sugar cane, and this part of El Salvador has all of that in abundance.

Our wheels for the afternoon, driven by Luis

In Malawi, sugar cane was a snack -
haven't seen that here

That sugar cane then produces molasses, from which the rum is later created. The process of making the rum was explained to us, but…well, we had quite a bit of rum, so the fresco diagram will have to suffice for you. We were given a small sample of the sticky melaza (I learnt that word early on in El Salvador when trying to find treacle for baking), as well as some of their unflavoured rum: pesado and ligero. Heavy and light. I preferred the former.

Sugar cane juice in the sugar cane field

Yep, that's how rum is made, folks

That blue bottle is their newest drink: vodka. Unexpected!

So three alcoholic drinks in (and a sugar cane juice, which was very sweet), we were taken into the storeroom: the bodega. Casks of wood, much of which is imported from the USA, containing rum, stored and stacked six high. There is a system here - as the rum ages, it gets siphoned into a lower cask.

More than 3,000 barrels

They didn't start selling rum for a few years, so were
reliant on the sugar company to finance the venture

None of us were expecting to be encouraged to climb on the barrels. Yet that is what our guide urged us to do. Can’t imagine that happening on other tours, particularly after a couple of tasters!

It was in this stiflingly hot storeroom where we were told more about the flavours, and how the wood can generate particular hues. Again, the lack of detail here is due to a cloudy memory - more samples were imbibed. He was a very knowledgeable guide!

Again, they had 'light' and 'dark' versions, with one tasting more like whisky

The smaller cask is made from ceiba, a national wood

When I booked the tour, I had been told there would be tasting. I assumed that what had happened so far was the tasting. After heading back to the start point and around another corner, we quickly realised that it had hardly begun.

The final tasting was in the shade

The bottles have lovely artistic designs

In supermarkets and in the airport, I’ve seen a few different Cihuatán bottles. At this point of the tour, they had all of them on display. Not just display - ready for sampling. We progressed from their ‘common’ rum, the Indigo, through some experimental flavours and up to their rarer, more expensive varieties.

Each bottle has a connection to a Mayan god

Nine rum bottles, sitting on a wall...

At points, this felt like being back at university. No sooner had you finished trying one was another type of rum being poured into the glass. Some of them are nicer than others (the pineapple one is a firm no-no). The cocktail that we made, complete with lollipop for dipping, was a big hit.

This make-your-own-cocktail station was the finish

Rum and passion fruit: winning

This was one of the more unusual excursions I’ve done in El Salvador: a liquor that I didn’t expect to be cultivated here, in the middle of nowhere, in a place where you can clamber over their barrels of rum. It was tremendous fun, and at $35 a pop, incredible value. The adventure was memorable, even if specific details weren’t!

We saw this sign after being encouraged to climb!

The umbrellas were helpful sun protectors!

Iguana: probably doesn't drink rum

Love you all,

Matt