The Mayan ruins

A noisy group of scarlet macaws heralded our arrival at the Copán Archeological Site, a short walk outside the town of Copán Ruinas. The ancient Mayans revered these exotic, curved-beaked parrots, whose feathers of red, yellow, blue and green represented blood, sun, sky and earth.

The Mayans built great temples here in the Copán Valley, carving images of their gods, their rulers and the birds they loved into the stone. At its peak in the 8^th Century A.D., as many as 20,000 people lived here among the monuments and painted sculptures. They built ornate temples and carved intricate hieroglyphics, watched ballgames and witnessed sacred sacrifices (animal and human).

Nobody is certain why the Mayans left Copán. They may have suffered from diseases or depleted the land's resources. But in the 9^th Century, the Mayan people migrated to present day Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico. The land reclaimed its space, burying the mysterious Mayan past.

The ruins are now an archeological site, complete with a museum and gift shop, where visitors can wander about the crumbling remains of what was once a great civilization. Tree roots push through the ancient temples and the sacred bird is endangered, hunted for its feathers, meat and mystique.

Photo by Christine Bedenis

The museum (entrance fee US$7) houses many original sculptures excavated from the ruins as well as a full-size replica of a Rosalia (pictured here). The Mayans built new temples on top of old ones, perhaps as a form of recycling, or perhaps to be closer to the gods.

[Photo by Christine Bedenis]

The 64 steps in the Heiroglyphic Stairway tell the history of the Mayan rulers. Only the first 15 are in the correct order, representing 40 percent of the history. Archeologists estimate it will take another 300 years to translate the rest.

[Photo by Christine Bedenis]

The intricate carvings at Copan have withstood millennia of weathering. Skulls like these praised the gods of the underworld and honored the deceased.

[Photo by Michael Gray]]

You can explore the ancient city of Copan (entrance fee US$15) and wander through the ruins. For another $5, you can explore the underground excavation tunnels, too.