Tegucigalpa is absolutely insane. This city stretches out further than you can possibly imagine, in every possible direction. As we got off our bus last night in Comayaguela (the west side of town), transvestite hookers were walking the streets and drunks were passed out of the curbs. The sidewalks are choked with people, the roads are congested in a 24-hour rush hour, and blaring car horns and blasting music makes finding a quiet spot near impossible. But somehow I really like it here. It seems like New York must have been in the eighties, when it was called the "ungovernable" city. Everybody races around, going about their business, and its really cool to find a spot on a hill where you can look down on the masses and watch the people and traffic fly by.

We are staying in a great hostel here, in a five bed dorm next to a friendly neighborhood bar. The guy who runs the place, Rob, is an expat from Virginia who's lived in Honduras for the last sixteen years. While I do like this place, I have to wonder how he wound up choosing this city as his home. Outside of the wild pace of a big city, Tegucigalpa does not have all that much to offer travellers, and since this is Semana Santa even the museums are shut down for the week.
So after a full day of exploring today, we are leaving again tomorrow for León, Nicaragua.

Once Chads stomach cleared up (he is all better now), we had a great time in Copan. It's a beautiful little town, with cobbled streets and a great 18th century church towering over a circular parque central. Like in most towns, all the locals head to the park once evening sets in, and the whole place is alive with music, food stalls, and kids playing in the street. It's very different from Guatemala though, with all the local teenagers decked out in clothing from Abercrombie and Fitch and United Colors of Bennetton. There was even a car parked in front of our hostel with a University of Florida decal printed on their back windshield.

The ruins were incredible as well. Not nearly as large as Tikal, but with some of the most phenomenal sculpture work I have ever seen. I am glad to have visited when we did, because the government is currently in the process of removing all original stellae, sculptures, and altars into museums on the periphery of the site, and replacing them with replicas in the park itself. I know its a necessary step to prevent further deterioration of the site, but the place will not be the same with reproductions in place of the originals.

Even the walk to Copan was fantastic - we followed a little, paved footpath alongside the highway, passing small farms dotted with crumbled Mayan structures. Every few hundred feet, a carved stellae and altar would suddenly appear in the middle of a cow pasture. There are ruined structures everywhere there, and if you look close enough as you pass through the countryside you can pick them out by the dozens.

Not much news to report other than that. Yesterday was a hard day of travelling, going to northeast to San Pedro Sula from Copan Ruinas, then south all the way to Tegucigalpa. Tomorrow will be another long travel day, but after that we will be more or less in the same area for a few weeks (Leon, Granada, Esteli, Ometepe). Then one more insane travel day back up to San Pedro Sula, a boat from the Bay Islands into Belize, then on a plane for Texas!

I hope everyone is doing well back home!