Cowboys and Coffee!

Honduras - Lex

I was really excited today as we were going on a horse riding trip. First we had to drive for an hour to get to our guides house. When we arrived we got ready with cowboy hats and lots of sunscreen. It was so hot. I thought my arms might fry. Luckily I was wearing long sleeves. When I got on my horse I thought my foot was not in the stirrups right and it really hurt so Carlos tried to help, unfortunately it didn't work but he told me to keep taking my foot out of the stirrups.the stirrups were different to English ones as they had a closed toe and lots of smooth leather to rest your leg on. They were also longer than English ones. This plan worked well. After about an hour and a half we stopped to stretch our legs. There were calves and foals. There was also a pregnant horse with a huge tummy. We had to help get the young horses used to humans by
hand feeding them.

After that we went back to the huge farmhouse to have lunch. It was stewed beef, vegetables, mashed potato, yucca, fried banana and homemade banana lemonade. It was delicious.
In the afternoon we went on a mini coffee tour. We talked about how the machines worked and what made a good and bad harvest. We felt the good and bad beans . If the beans are put in water the good ones sink and the bad ones float. We felt the beans in different stages of drying, they felt really crusty! I liked putting my hands in the sack to make a sound like maracas. To dry the beans they are put in the sun. I helped sweep them into piles ready to go into sacks.

Next we went to some hot springs. There were lots of different pools. We went to a sulphur smelling one, a boiling hot one, a foot massaging one and a waterfall that hit your neck and shoulders for a massage. I was really surprised to see a hot waterfall. Unfortunately we had to get out after three hours and catch our truck back to Copan.

Copan Ruinas

Today we went to see the famous Copan ruins. We met our guide and looked at the layout plan. There were temples , courts, plazas and lots of ruins. We then went into the mini bird sanctuary. There were giant macaws everywhere and I got a picture of one flying over my head in mid air. We looked around the sculptures. They were mostly replicas with the real ones in the museum.

There was a king called 18 rabbit because his picture had 3 bars that each represented 5 and 3 dots for 3. His face was a rabbit so he became 18 rabbit. After that we explored the ball court that was where the hero twins had a ball game. It was different to modern ball games because they were the Mayans. It reminded me of Zeus and Hades. We held one of the balls in the museum and it was so heavy. I could not lift it. They used a leather belt tied around their hips to protect their bodies. They could only use their hips and thighs to knock the ball around the court.

The place was a bit weird because the buildings were constantly being built on top of old ones. Archaeologists found a whole preserved temple underneath a pyramid. It was bright red. They also had altars for sacrifice that had grooves to let the blood run out! This one was also in the shape of a turtle.

We learned about the Mayan calendar. They have 18 months in the year and 20 days in each there were 5 days spare at the end of the year. I am POP rather than a LEO in their zodiac.

No one really knows why the Mayans disappeared from their cities. Some people believe they made too many demands on the land such as for food production, and clearing wood to burn.

After having a fabulous time we went to Macaw Mountain. Macaw Mountain is a bird rescue centre. W saw rescued parrots, toucans, macaws, lots of owls that had been hit by cars and some hawks. A guide showed us around and then we got to hold parrots and macaws. I held a parrot on my shoulder like a pirate.the scarlet macaw bit me on the head and pulled my hair. After that we went swimming in a river. We jumped into the current and it pulled us downstream. It was a great day and the cool water was such a treat on the hot day.