A visit to the Mayan Ruins

One of the most interesting things we did on our vacation was go the Mayan Ruins in Copan. At this point, we met up with some of Nate's friends that were down there at the same time. We hired a tour guide and it was very informative. Unfortunately, we don't have pictures of them from the ruins. Maybe in another post. The ruins are just outside the city and they are said to be the 'Paris' of the Mayan cities. In this first picture is the Heiroglyphic staircase. This picture does not do the size of this thing justice. It is enormous. Each little stone in the staricase is individually engraved. They are in the process of restoring it and so it's covered by a canvas to protect it from the elements.

Here is our tour guide, Antonio. He was very knowledgable and also very funny. He actually gave a tour to Spener W Kimball about 20 years ago. When he told us that, we knew that we wanted him as our tour guide. He's not LDS, but he has read the Book of Mormon. He knew everything there was to know about the history, the ruins, the Mayan culture. Here he is with what he says is his brother because they have the same teeth. Only 2 on the bottom with a big space in the middle. He was a crack up.

This area is actually an arena where they played sports.

Just an arial veiw of some of the ruins. All in all, the place was a lot bigger than I expected it to be and it was amazing to think of what into building all of this so long ago! Definately a must see if you're going to Central Ameica.