Honduras - Thank You, Gracias

March 29-30

Hello everyone!

What’s in the name of a town? If you dig a bit into the history of where you live, you may find some interesting reasons for the names we use in our day-to-day lives. 

Hiking in Celaque National Park

Not even these trees would stop me on my hike!

This thought struck me when in the Honduran town of Gracias. That’s right, the town is called ‘thank you’. Its name derives from the story that a Spanish conquistador had been traversing the mountains in the area. Weary and exhausted, he happened upon a slightly flatter area of land. ‘Gracias a Dios’, he may have said. Thanks to God. So the town of thanks - Gracias - had its name decreed.

Without stopping, the drive to Gracias is about 3h30 from Copan

The city has a population of about 60,000

There may be a semblance of truth in this as Gracias was a town - an important one - in the early days of Spanish exploration and conquest in Central America. The town was founded in 1536, and in 1544 was established as the seat of the Royal Audiencia and Chancery - essentially, ensuring laws decreed by the Spanish Crown were upheld - for the area between modern-day Guatemala and Nicaragua. This only lasted 5 years, but reflects its importance as a central staging post for the Spanish. 

Fuente de San Cristobal - St Christopher's Fort - sits above Gracias,
but was built in 1850, long after the town's original heyday

The fort was built to defend against Salvadoreans and Guatemalans

Little obviously remains from that time - wars and earthquakes will do that, as they have to so much of this region. One of the town’s churches, La Merced, dates back from 1611. It has an impressive frontal facade. The rest of the town is quite sleepy, with visitor numbers seemingly low in comparison to places like Copán Ruinas and Comayagua. Noise comes from tuktuks: there are many of them.

The shield above the door is that of the Maltese Cross

Central Park in Gracias is flanked with stalls

The department or state that Gracias sits in is called Lempira. This reflects the traditional national hero of Honduras, who fought against the Spanish until dying in 1537. In the Lenca language, it means ‘Lord of the Mountains’. There are quite a few surrounding Gracias, helping to explain why the conquistador was so thankful to find a flat area.

The Spaniards told Lempira they wanted peace...then
captured and dismembered him, before scattering him in
undisclosed locations. Standard colonial behaviour.

This graffiti depicts the arrival of a Spaniard,
possibly called Juan de Chavez, in 1536 

The steep range that looms large to the west of Gracias is in a protected area called Celaque National Park. This is the reason we were here. A bit of cloud forest and a useful stopping point between Copán Ruinas and Lake Yojoa. 

The mountain range is very visible from Gracias

The park was established in 1987

It hosts Honduras’ highest mountain: Cerro de las Minas, which is 2849 metres above sea level. This wasn’t happening; scaling this particular peak involves an overnight camping trip with a lot of gear. There are plenty of other hikes to undertake in the park, one of which became our plan for Monday morning.

A particularly striking tree in Celaque National Park

The foliage changes with elevation - this fern
was about 1800 metres above sea level

The map at the visitor’s centre shows all the routes, each designated a colour. We had been told that our chosen hike - heading to a viewpoint (mirador) for a waterfall - would involve crossing the main river twice. It, and the man at the entrance, didn’t suggest when this would happen, meaning that we initially didn’t find it. Instead, we accidentally completed the first hike, returning to the visitor’s centre to see a look of bemusement on his face.

Celaque translates as 'water box' in the old Lenca language, and the
park's rivers provide fresh water for the surrounding communities

Completing loop 1 of the 5 options in the park

We were taken to the river crossing, which turned out to be a rickety log with a speck of yellow paint to indicate the trail. The second log was at least flat on top. 

Celaque National Park has 9 rivers

They provide water for 120 settlements, including Gracias

Parque Nacional Celaque is covered with verdant forest. Tall, twiglike trees stretch high to the sky, with their pine needles creating a carpet path upwards. The plants were interesting and became a welcome chance to pause to catch breath as I ascended.

Pine-oak forest dominates the lower sections of thee park

This fern had interesting studs, almost like Braille, on its leaves

The path up towards the mirador was also pockmarked by inspirational quotes about the importance of the environment. It is stressed throughout the park that visitors need to look after it: leave only footprints, take only photos and so on.

Greta's contribution. They have quotes from people from
throughout history, such as Dante Alighieri.

A fuschia arborescens, an evergreen shrub

As I continued to climb, on my own at this point, I ventured into the cloud forest. I’d been told that higher up is where greater biodiversity lies in the park, with animals such as ocelot and pumas hanging out higher up. I didn’t see either. Probably for the best. I saw a butterfly, and not much else, as I trudged increasingly slowly up the steep hill.

Photos don't show how steep this was - Strava tells me that in this
kilometre, I went up 260 metres, so an average gradient of 26%

Butterly in Spanish is 'mariposa'

Eventually, after a brief fuelling stop with a Pinguino, I found a fork that told me the waterfall lookout would be found on a trail going to the right. The board suggested that it would be 1 hour and 45 minutes there and back. I was therefore surprised about 25 minutes later when I reached a platform, next to a sign that clearly stated this to be the end of the trail.

That brown smudge on the tree was my marker for this route

I was a tiny bit tempted...

So that waterfall! I’ll admit, at first glance I didn’t actually see it. I could hear it, sure, but couldn’t spot it. Turns out I wasn’t looking high enough. I needed to look into the clouds. With a zoomed-in camera, I could see that it was an impressive cascade. I did expect to be a little bit closer, mind!

Santa Lucia waterfall

Very little information about this - it looks powerful
and high, even from a great distance

Coming down was a breeze. I had been told that it would be one-and-a-half hours down. It was less than an hour. A descent of almost 600 metres, having tipped 2000 metres when getting to the waterfall viewpoint.

Mossy near the top

7.78 km with 636 m of elevation

We enjoyed our time in Celaque National Park. We enjoyed the food, coffee and beer in Gracias. It’s a cute place that, whilst a bit rough around the edges, arguably gave us a more authentic Honduran experience than Copán. So ‘gracias’, Gracias!

Plenty of coffee, though none this big!

The town of Gracias - the main plaza is about 5 blocks in

Lovely walk in nature!

Love you all,

Matt

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