Copan is the southernmost city of the Maya, it was built on the Copan River in what today is known as Honduras. Although people lived in the region for a couple thousand years earlier, the city wasn't officially founded until Ruler #1, Great Sun, became king in 426 A.D. Copan then flourished as a major Mayan city, with a large population of 5000 to 10,000 people, with additional farmers on the periphery. Copan is famous for its dramatic carvings and impressive temples; because of these unique and beautiful builings and artifacts, Copan was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

At the entrance to Copan is a flock of scarlet macaws. These beautiful birds can fly away, but because the rangers feed them they stay in the area. There were a few other birds hanging around the feeders as well. I loved seeing those birds!

The ruins at Copan site are pretty neat, and the visit was made even better by our guide, who spoke extensively about the Copan history and pointed out a lot of details on the buildings and monuments. A lot of the text on these photographs are from remarks I hastily copied down into a notebook as we stopped at different spots. Our tour group spent an entire morning walking through the site, and I probably could have spent even longer taking pictures. The Stela, altars and carved artwork that decorates the buildings are quite impressive, and I am glad we were able to make this visit - Honduras is not easily reached, so Copan probably doesn't get as many visitors as it deserves (unlike, for example, Chitzen Itza, which is easily reached by tourists on cruise ships docking at Cancun or Cozumel.)

After a late hot lunch, served for us on picnic tables right at the entrance to the ruins, we visited the Copan museum, which contains even more artifacts founds on the site. Finally, a small subset of the entire group took a visit to the Sepulturas area, which despite its name, was a elite residential area for royalty, priests and the like. (Sepulturas means "The Graves", the area was given its name because archaeologists found a lot of tombs - this was due to the Mayan custom of burying their ancestors beneath their houses.)

Copan was the last stop on our tour of Jungle Kingdoms of the Maya. It certainly was a grand finale, but I liked all of the sites that we saw on this trip. Overall it was an excellent vacation.

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