Annie & Safe Go West

Day 26.  An uneventful border crossing took us from Guatemala into Honduras.  We arrived in Copan where half the men look like they’ve stepped out of an advert for Marlboro, complete with signature hat, cowboy boots, 2ft long machete, and some with (un)discretely hidden firearms.

The town looks like it belongs in a film set with a main square where everything happens and everyone hangs out.  Dusty roads leading away from it into the hills.  From time to time a motorcade of fancy American pickups with tinted widows and “muscle” sitting in the back escorts the Head Honcho in and out of town.  Young men stand alone on street corners “minding their own business”.  Occasionally one of them would kindly enquire whether we wanted a soft drink … unfortunately they only seemed to sell Coke.

In the late afternoon we were driven by “Eric” to the local Aguas Calientes (hot springs) for a relaxing and therapeutic soak in the hot sulphurus water, the perfect remedy for a tiring volcano hike.

We came back in time for a fiesta.  The square was lined with people having impromptu barbeques.  Our evening’s meal was barbequed meat in tortillas served in a plastic basket followed by a local drink known as “Ponche”, piping hot milk with a drop of some sort of alcohol topped with some herbs and cinnamon.  Safe asked what alcohol went into the drink … the helpful reply was simply “alcohol” as though the details were irrelevant.