Copan makes an immediate impression in the entrance to the site where, in a maze of color, 16 wild, noisy and jealous scarlet macaws have found a home. Remarkably snooty, they gossip incessantly, can understand a bit of Maya, Spanish and English, and seem to be working on French.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, and a Honduras National Monument in 1982, the ruins are surrounded by a weighty sense of impending discovery. Grand sculptures, petroglyphs, altars and stelas are overwhelming. Many of them were created centuries ago during 18 Rabbit's reign. For the Maya, the expression "It's carved in stone" is the real deal.
In this hilly town - serene, friendly and safe - as in hundreds of other small villages dotting the Honduran countryside, half the residents are related to one another, and the other half know what their neighbors are having for dinner. The hotel of note, Marina Copan, just steps from the central plaza in Ruinas Copan, comes complete with a pool, beautifully landscaped grounds and live music. Nearby is the family owned and operated Enchanted Wings Butterfly House and Nature Center, and Macaw Mountain, a 10-acre, heavily forested nature preserve and coffee farm, host to a collection of rescued and donated Honduran parrots, macaws and toucans, who know they've found a slice of paradise.
A 2 1/2-hour drive on the best roads in Central America, from Copan to San Pedro Sula, the Honduran gateway to the Bay Islands, is reminiscent of the Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanejo of 30 years ago, when tourism south of the border was in its infancy. It brought back memories of an old barber in PV with trembling hands who sipped tequila, sold chickens on the side and sang off-key mariachi songs to any senorita in sight.
But there's a contrasting side to Honduras as well. Just take a one-hour propeller flight on Taca Airlines, trusting your gum-chewing pilot to get you safely from San Pedro Sula to the Bay Islands and Anthony's Key Resort on Roatan. The largest of 15 islands, Roatan is 30 miles off the coast of Honduras in a bay crisscrossed by 70 miles of vivid, multicolored coral reefs. Once upon a time Columbus landed in the Bay Islands; he was soon followed by boatloads of crusty French, English, Dutch and Spanish pirates and ragtag buccaneers who dropped anchor there to repair their boats.
Tucked away in the dazzling Caribbean, Anthony's Key, a 30-year-old, family owned dive-snorkel-dolphin-research resort, ranked among the best in the Caribbean, gives guests reason to wish that each day would linger without end. The main lodge and dining room sit on a bluff with gorgeous views of a shimmering bay, state-of-the-art dive and snorkel boats and palm-laden Anthony's Key, a small islet where 56 cozy over-water bungalows with private sun decks are ensconced.
Sixteen Atlantic bottleneck dolphins have found a home at the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences. Assistant Director Bruce Plunkett, a free-spirited Canadian with webfeet who could swim before he could walk, said, "We've been studying their natural behavior since 1990 and are a recognized host facility for colleges and universities such as Yale and Creighton."
West End, a funky village seven minutes from the resort via a $3 taxi ride, is filled with serious divers and expats purposely wearing mismatched, ill-fitting, well-worn garb feeling very bohemian, and with deeply suntanned, barefoot Europeans who, for a week or two, are playing the part of bohemians. Yet they all stand in great contrast to the true bohemians, the elegant Maya women who sit quietly in their stalls along the sandy main road with their splendid weavings. Guests can horseback ride along the beach and book a canopy swing through the jungle with inquisitive monkeys, or kayak across a glassy, shimmering bay at the resort to Bailey's Key, a large enclosure where the dolphins are splashing about. A skiff slips by followed by a spirited dolphin. The moment, quiet and serene, surrounded by a blaze of greenery, a radiant blue sky, dabbled shades of Caribbean turquoise and a Maya presence, is Honduras at its best.
IF YOU GO
Anthony's Key Resort, Bahia Tours, based in Miami, ranked among Honduras' top tour companies, can book all details including airport pickup to Copan with English-speaking guides and arrangements to the resort; (800) 227-3483; (504) 445-1003; www.anthonyskey.com. Taca Airlines, a top Central America carrier flying roomy Airbus aircrafts, offers packages and direct flights to Roatan from the United States, and throughout Central America.