Copan

Once again, sorry I have not posted in a few days. I have been without internet since Friday morning! Lol, it was horrible! But it was completely worth it because I was in Copan. I cant even begin to explain how beautiful it is there. I will just have to show you pictures ;0) We got to Copan around 2:00 on Friday, but it was too late to go to the ruins because they closed at 4:00, so we decided to be a little adventurous! We found a place to go ziplinning, it was amazing!!!

This was on the drive to the Canopy. Its hard to see, but the locals were bathing in the river.

I got stuck so the guy had to reel me in, lol!

  Saturday morning we got up early and went straight to the ruins. It is probably the most amazing thing that I have ever seen! I wish all of you could experience it too.

This was our wonderful tour guide Antonio. He wouldn't smile because he only has two teeth and he said he didn't want to scare everyone!!!

This is the sacred Mayan tree, La Ceiba. The Mayans believed that spirits landed on the branches from Heaven and they went to the underground through the roots. There are a ton of spikes on the tree trunk and they would pierce their tounge with the spikes to draw blood which would connect them to the Gods.

Hard to see, but all of us with our bus driver, Elmer.

The first rock is where they would make sacrifices to the Gods. They would put the persons head in the middle and there is a tunnel hollowed out for the blood to travel down.

I was just amazed at the detail of everything considering what they used to carve with.

One of many. Isn't it amazing?

One of the Gods that watched over them while they played their sport.

This is where they would play their sport, I cant remember the name! You had to keep the ball off of the ground, and you could use any body part but the hands. They would bounce the ball up on the sides and try to hit the carving on the sides.

This is where all of their history was written. It is all along the sides of the steps. The altar in the front was for sacrifices. They keep it covered to preserve the color of the stones. At one time they were a deep red.

Antonio told us that one of the big mysteries here is the trees that grow from the ruins. After the Mayans left Copan, the trees began to grow from the temples and they don't know how because there is not earth underneath, only old temples that they built over.

There is a massive temple underneath this one, but we could not go inside.

Supposedly this is what the temple looks like underneath the one above.

I cant remember which God this was.

This is where the upper class lived. They have not been able to explore inside of the homes yet, but they believe the people are still buried inside.

This was my favorite sign. It meant look so you don't fall.

Another amazing view.

Antonio said this was his great-grandfather. They both only have two teeth, lol!

They call this God Tony the Tiger, haha.

This is the temple that is connected to where they play the sports. On the right you can see the slope that they bounced the ball on.

Well, we are back to school tomorrow. I will begin teaching spelling and reading starting tomorrow. Wish me luck. It is a lot different teaching the students here than it is back home. I hope that you enjoyed the pictures. I had an amazing first week in Honduras and I am so thankful that I have been given this opportunity. I hope that the next two weeks are as much fun as this last one has been. Buenos noches.