Horseback Riding in Copan

While traveling with kids in Copan, Honduras, part of our month long tour Honduras, we went horseback riding.  It cost $20 per person, but they didn’t charge us for our 4 year old.  Check out the condition of the horse before you select one.  Some are in much better shape than others.  You will be riding up a mountain and back down, so it’s important to be on a healthy horse.  The mountain is quite steep at times.  Our children had someone walk with them the entire way controlling the horse.

Here we are up at the top!

There is a village at the top of the mountain and there will be kids trying to sell you things and beg for money.  I recommend taking a pair of shoes up there to give to one of the kids.

The views from the top of the mountain our beautiful. 

Mr. Banana arranged this for us, but you can have it arranged yourself.  Just ask your hotel where the guys are hanging out with the horses and go speak with them.  It is near the community center.

Check out the other Friday photos over at Delicious Baby

Aguas Termales near Copan, Honduras

Aguas Termales

While in Copan, Honduras with kids we went to the Agua Termalas.  Otherwise known as hot springs.  I was not looking forward to going, because it was more expensive than some of the other activities and I know what I think of when I hear hot springs.  It was $100 for our family of five.  This included transportation, entry fees, a private cabana, and a bbq dinner.  It was by far worth every dime to go.  This entire excursion was awesome.

After driving about an hour from Copan we arrived at the hot springs and were guided to a private area.  To get there we had to cross a hanging wooden bridge.  It was raining and the wood was slick, plus it looks to be 100 years old!  This picture does not do justice to how scary it was.  Once we crossed the bridge we went through a cave.

And because that is not a dramatic enough entry we then had to cross over water on these stones. 

You could walk through the forest to one hot spring after another. 
This is the hot spring next to our cabana. 

Private cabana

Here you can see where one hot springs has a water fall that flows into another pool and then another. 
Here is our bbq chef preparing our feast on this random outdoor grill at a public park.  Now, does this look like something we should eat.  The food was delicious until the next day!  We should have stuck to restaurants!  Remember that bus ride from hell I mentioned we took to get to Copan.  Well, there were no miracles happening on the way back.  Our oldest threw up on the bus.  Oh well!

Like all the activities we did in Copan, this one too was arranged by Mr. Banana. Just ask your hotel and they will get him to meet with you and plan your activities.

4 Delicious Restaurants in Copan, Honduras

Honduras food is unique and always good.  Here are 4 restaurants in Copan, Honduras that I recommend.  All four are kid friendly.

B’alam Café – Located at the Yat Balam Hotel. (which looked very nice)  We had the best breakfast during our trip here. 

Carnitas Nia Lola – I don’t remember what I had here, but it was good.  Check out the waitress above carry our appetizer to us on her head!

Asados Copan – One of the best meals I have ever had anywhere.  Click to see pictures of the delicious food we ate.  Their specialty is grilled meats. 

Elisa’s Cafeteria – This restaurant is located in the hotel we stayed in and was the first place we ate at in Copan.  It was very good.  We were with a lot of people and everyone ordered something different and everyone loved their food.  We had the best Copan grown coffee from here every morning while we sat in the hotel courtyard.

Copan Ruins–Honduras

Copan is a small town located in western Honduras, only 12 km from Guatemala and home to the Copan Mayan ruins.

The ruins were a short walk from Hotel Camino Maya, in the center of town.  It was less than a mile and our four year old was able to walk it with out a problem.  The Copan Ruins are kid friendly and a great activity for families traveling in Honduras.

At a small visitor's center you pay and get your tickets.  Tickets for children are $7 and include the museum.  Tickets for adults to go into the ruins and the museum are $22.Then there is a short walk towards a gated entry.  It's here that you will meet up with your guide.  The guides are inexpensive and worth it.  You pay the guide directly.  Once you get past the gated you come across a handful of macaw birds.  They are beautiful. 
There are many Mayan statues still intact.
You are allowed to walk on many of the structures.  This makes it especially fun for the kids.
 
The hole you see in this picture is just one of many.  They had underground tunnels and a water system.  There are over 4 km of tunnels and for $10 you can go into two of the tunnels. 

The hieroglyphic stairway holds the longest known text left by the Mayans. 

Hotel Camino Maya–Copan, Honduras

We went to Copan, Honduras over Easter weekend and stayed at Hotel Camino Maya.  It is on a busy corner across from the plaza and very easy to find. The street along one side of the hotel was filled with vendors selling all kids of goodies.  The other street had food vendors.  Overall the location was great.

Our room was good.  These are pictures of a triple room, you can see some pictures of their regular rooms here.  We had two double beds, a bathroom with a shower only, tv, bottled water, and most important air conditioning!  The maid service was good, we never saw them make up the room.  From what I could tell they cleaned and replaced everything daily, sheets, water, soap, and towels.  The tv had cable with some channels in English.  The lobby had 2 computers with free internet. 

The hotel had a bar, Lost Monkey’s and a restaurant, Elisa’s.  We of course had to try both.  We ate at Elisa’s the first night we got there.  I don’t remember much about it after the exhaustion of so much traveling.  I can remember how good the Honduran tacos looked.  The guy eating them said they were fantastic.  We had the room closest to Lost Monkeys so we were able to actually go to the bar and watch the kids in the room at the same time.  This was a first for us!  Lost Monkeys seemed like a popular hangout and was fun.

The hotel was built to where it has a big open courtyard.  I especially enjoyed sitting out there in the morning having my coffee.
When we were there the hotel was bright red.  If you look on their website it is yellow.  The bar also has a different name on the website.  Don’t worry though, you are looking at the right website!

Hotel Camino Maya info

(504)2651-4646 /4446/4518

info@caminomayahotel.com

http://www.caminomayahotel.com/

Zip line attached to a tree! - Photo Friday

We went zip lining with our kids while we were in Copan, Honduras.  It was fantastic, but I must say when I saw how they attached the zip lines to trees I was less than thrilled.  We had already gone down 3 or 4 lines before we saw this!  More pictures and read about our zip lining adventure!

Check out the other Friday Photos from today over at Delicious Baby.

Sand Carpets–Copan, Honduras

While on family vacation in Copan, Honduras we witnessed the “painting” of the Sand carpets.  We arrived in town the night before Good Friday.  The street was blocked off next to the central park and teams of people were drawing with colored sand or saw dust.  We didn’t know what they were doing or why.  From the looks of it we guessed that there were different teams creating various images.  Maybe it was a contest?  As you can see from the picture they have paper drawn out that they use to guide  where to pour the sand.  The street is layered in hay, then topped with brown sand, and finally drawn on with colored sand. 

In the morning we quickly realized that this was a series of paintings creating the story of Jesus’s last hours and resurrection.  This is a tradition in Honduras to celebrate Semana Santa, or holy week leading up to Easter. 

Here is the view from the balcony of our hotel.  That had a ladder set up at the other end, but the line was long.  Now I wish I had waiting in line!



Late on Good Friday evening there was a procession that made it’s way through the streets led by a priest.  Once they made it to the sand carpets, in the pouring rain, the procession stopped and there was a sermon, given from a megaphone.  After the sermon and prayers were complete they proceeded to walk across the carpet. 

Saturday, the next morning they began to sweep it all away.  They used the sand as mulch around the trees in the park.
 
On Easter Sunday there was another procession through town.  Here is a picture of them making their way down the street.  This has to be about half of the town. 

Zip lining in Copan, Honduras

 Our family, including all three kids ages 10, 7, and 4, had an amazing adventure while in Honduras.  We went on one of the world's greatest zip lines in Copan, Honduras with the Los Sapos Canopy Tour. 
     We zipped down 14 different cables. One of the lines was 1 km long.  This was the first time zip lining for all of us.  Although we were high up, it was not scary.  All three kids did great.  The younger two went tandem each time.  Our oldest went tandem, but also took a few lines by himself once he felt comfortable. 

 This is me.  I thought it was just too much fun. 

To arrange zip lining with Canopy Tours, just ask your hotel about it.  The canopy tour will send a vehicle to pick you up.