July 22, 2008 - Copan, Honduras

"But most Hondurans are campesinos who live far removed from the highway. They live in what we call asentamientos, or settlements."
- Elvia Alvarado

Having only eatten about six crackers and a bottle of Gatorade in the last 48 hours, I´m a little dehydrated and week but began exploring Copan today.

Copan was the center of Mayan culture for over 400 years, beginning around A.D. 550. This was a period of historic advancements in hieroglyphic writing and astronomy, but most significant was the dramatic changes in creating elaborately detailed upright sculptures. These sculptures served as sundials which also told the Maya when to plant crops.

Each major Mayan Temple site in Central America has it{s own signature symbol called an "emblem glyph". Copan{s is a bat with a curled up nose (pictured above).

The first day of Ixbalanque Spanish Language School entailed reviewing concepts learned in high school and college which were forgotten, and a rowdy game of Spanish Dictionary.