Lago de Izabal & Copan Ruinas

We had a four-day week-end for November 1st & 2nd for"Todos Santos." We drove for about three hours and then took a boat for about 20 minutes to get to Denny's Beach, a couple of cottages with a very swimmable little beach and a restaurant. Another family of four and we were the only guests there. We enjoyed the little lake and took a nice hike in the area, where we interestingly found the longest sidewalk we have seen so far in Guatemala--cutting through the middle of the jungle.

It got a bit rainy at the lake, so after two nights at the lake we headed to the ruins in Copan. Copan Ruinas is a very cute little town about 10 kilometers beyond the Guatemalan border in Honduras. Our border crossing in the Jeep with Guatemalan plates went well: they just waved us through. Copan bears the longest known Mayan text, hundreds of hieroglyphs reading up a stairway of 72 steps (not the same steps in the picture here). Shalom's favorite part of visiting the ruins was a group of "guacamayas" (toucans) hanging around the entrance. Copan was crawling with tourists, so due to the short notice we ended up staying in a musty & cold room that cost less than the jacket we ended up buying for Shalom to keep her dry...and the jacket was about $10. We were all very glad to return home to our own beds after that!