Pilgrimage Through the Americas: Face Disfigured in Copan Ruinas, Honduras

Charming little town

Violence against women, Evangelical recruitment, no electricity for a weekend, losing a fight and busting my nose and only paying $13.65 a night to experience it all. Copan Ruinas is unlike any other town in Honduras. It’s located a short 15 minute walk from the Mayan ruins at Copan. Take mosquito spray if you make the walk, or be prepared for a blood transfusion to replace what you’ve “donated” to the bloodsucking female predators.

Hills and mountains surrounding Copan Ruinas

That's my blood on the napkin and dead mosquito

The delightful little town of 6,000 people sits in rolling hills near the border with Guatemala. Local people all know each other. They’re friendly and helpful towards travelers and tourists. They understand and appreciate that the local economy and their livelihood depends on maintaining amicable relations with foreigners. Everyone goes out of their way to assure visitors enjoy their stay, feel safe, and have opportunities to enjoy visits to Mayan ruins, soothing hot springs, unexplored caves, and take advantage of outdoor recreation like hiking, horseback riding, and other adventures. I highly recommend a visit.

Charming Copan Ruinas

The hilly streets are easy to maneuver, even with the cobblestone streets

If you tire of walking the hills, these "tuk tuk" taxis are inexpensive

and fun to ride in

A typical neighborhood in this small town

I’m sitting at the charming “Parque Central” (Central Park). It’s warm, but not hot, probably around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, very humid. I observe groups of elderly men chatting, laughing, making comments about foreign travelers as they struggle through the park with overloaded backpacks. Young mothers are with their children, who are playing in dirt and grass areas. Vendors are selling roasted corn on the cob and “chipped” ice with flavors from coke to juices like orange, apple, mango. Female and male teenagers are flirting and teasing each other. Everyone, young and old, are on their cells phones, probably talking with someone across the park. This addiction has arrived in Honduras.

The North side of the Central Park

A fresh fruit vendor doing brisk business

In the afternoons a main street is closed to allow vendors

to sell souvenirs to travelers and tourists

A "commercial" street with stores and shops

Fighting violence against women

Copan Ruinas is a microcosm of trends wide-ranging in Latin America. There’s an unpleasant topic that continually comes up during my travels - violence towards and abuse of women by men. I heard about it in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. My instructor Nancy (an alias to protect her identity) at the Spanish language school I attended in Copan Ruinas, in a very painful session shared with me her experience living in a household with an abusive father who beat her mother. He once beat her when she intervened to protect the mother. She ascribed this intolerable behavior to a “macho” culture where men expect to be “served” and allowed to do anything they want with women. She feels it can be traced to the Spanish conquest of the Americas. The Spaniards did not bring women from Spain. They were given indigenous women as tribute and took them as “spoils of conquest”. Men have had this dominant role, with women being subservient, for over five hundred years. This behavior is passed down through generations, both the male and female roles.

There is reason for optimism. There are now women support groups, some government aid, including police intervention, and the topic is openly being discussed. These are first steps in recognizing a sever problem. Nancy worked through her Evangelical church in alleviating her situation. She felt that the first step is the woman recognizing that it’s a problem that cannot continue. After this hurtle, the focus is shifted to working with males to begin behavior modification. Ultimately the couple must be willing to identify the problem, agree that it’s unhealthy, unacceptable and harms the family. Nancy looks forward for the next generation to show signs of improvement, gender equality, and a lowering rate of abusive incidents.

One of many varieties of butterflies within the city

This area of Honduras is know for viewing butterflies

Rise of Evangelical religion

The Catholic church was once ubiquitous and powerful in Latin America. It’s no longer the case. Evangelical religions have made major inroads in converting people to their theology. In Copan Ruinas, there are more Evangelical churches than Catholic. I was recruited by my Spanish teacher to attend one of their services. When I declined, she softly suggested I come over to her house for dinner. I was open, until she said that her “brothers and sisters in Christ” will also be there reading the bible, singing in praise of Jesus, and assisting each other in fellowship. This phenomena is sweeping Latin America. More than once, I was asked if I “was Christian”, when I said I believe in Jesus Christ as the savior, I inevitable was invited to attend a bible reading.

One of many Evangelical churches throughout the town

Clearly the people from Latin America are looking for another avenue to the spiritual. The hierarchy of the Catholic church is associated with conquest, exploitation, and greed. While many revolutions of liberation (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) have been assisted by the local parish priest, the hierarchy of the Church has consistently aligned itself with those in power. A significant portion of the current working class and poorer populations of these countries (the majority) no longer identify with the Catholic church. They feel closer to the Almighty worshipping in Evangelical churches. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the intervening years.

Losing power

Almost on a daily basis we lost electrical power in Copan Ruinas. Once, we lost it on Friday night and it did not come back on until early Monday morning. On occasions it was due to rain and electrical storms damaging the power grid. Other times there were “brown outs”, that is, planned power outages to conserve power for higher priority uses or to prevent the grid from damage due to excessive demands. I had a lengthy conversation with Esteban, the owner of the popular restaurant Picame, on this problem. He’s a black Garifuna from the Atlantic coast of Honduras. The Garifuna are descendants from black slaves brought to the Caribbean by the English, who escaped to Central America to gain their freedom. They maintained their freedom and today are a highly independent group. Many intermarried with indigenous tribes.

One of my favorites from "Picame", an extra large, delicious breakfast burrito

A "charrasco de pollo" at Memo's restaurant,

very tasty, inexpensive, and recommended

Memo cooking the old fashion way, with a wood burning grill

Esteban’s opinion is that the government uses these types of incidents to appeal to foreign interests for aid to finance infrastructure projects. When this aid arrives, much of it is siphoned into the coffers of corrupt officials. Many times the work is done with inferior, less costly materials which allows more profit for the companies who are owned by these officials. Esteban said, “What we get is promises from the government that in 3 to 5 years we’ll get the power facilities we need. But, each election we hear the same thing. It seems that the 3 to 5 years never arrives.” His business is harmed when power is lost. He has food that needs refrigeration and is spoiled if power is out for an extended amount of time. Also, customers are less likely to venture far from their hotels and to his restaurant when the city is dark. He laughs about the government’s lack of action. He also realizes that it can be a dangerous situation and lead to accidents and injuries.

Manny de riding a horse heading south, with the

Copan River in the background

Close up of Copan River next to crops and mountains in the background

An indigenous village home of the local "Sorti" tribe

Another Sorti home: even though made of adobe, an ancient technology,

note the electric meter on the pole in the foreground

The view from the Sorti village named "La Pintada"

Busting open my nose

It’s Saturday night and there’s no electrical power. I was working in the dark on my laptop using battery power. It was late and I was tired. After working for three hours I shut off my computer, but had forgotten there was no electricity or light in the room. Without the illumination from the computer screen it was completely dark. It was my first night in Hotel Patty and I became disoriented in the room. I stood up from the desk and walked into the wall separating the bedroom from the bathroom. I was knocked off my feet. I momentarily saw stars and felt intense pain. I busted open and blooded the top of my nose. A hugh lump developed on the cut. I thought my nose was broken. In the dark, I crawled on my hands and knees to get my flashlight from the dresser, found some bandaids in my backpack, and wormed into the bathroom to stop the bleeding. I swear as I entered the bathroom, I heard the wall laugh at me. If I wasn’t so dazed I would have continued the fight. After stopping the bleeding and inspecting my nose, I decided to go to sleep hoping not to wake up with two black eyes. The next day I woke up with a headache and a two inch scar that I’m telling everyone I got defending my backpack.

The caring staff at Hotel Patty were very concerned the next day when they saw me wearing a bandaid on my nose. After I told them the story, they immediately put candles and matches in the room on the writing table, dresser, and bathroom. They told me that losing power is common during the “rainy season”. I highly recommend a stay at this hotel. They were open to negotiating a “friendly” rate for my extended stay of ten days as I studied Spanish. I ended up paying only $13.65 a night for a large room, private bathroom with hot water, cable TV, writing desk, a beautiful flower garden, and strong “Wifi” connection in the room. Also, the delightful staff includes a little white dog named Bru, who showers you with kisses upon your arrival. Except for the addition of a scar, which by the way makes me look more “rugged”, I enjoyed my stay in Copan Ruinas and will return.