The Travelling Teacher: 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…