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The weather was very hot, and despite our best efforts we quickly became dehydrated. We'd each been issued a bottle of water and we purchased another liter, but needed to supplement that at lunch with many liters of Coke, beer and Seven-up. It was a pretty strenuous 3-hour tour climbing up and down rough-hewn stone stadium steps. Rosie's new hip got quite a workout. Others on the tour wore themselves out but she finished strong. One lady fainted on top of the stonework that comprises an arena and needed to be revived.
After a huge lunch at a hotel in the town of Copan (besieged by children selling dolls, necklaces and reproductions of stone carvings) we walked a block or so to the archaeological museum where among the artifacts on display are several pieces of polychrome pottery that are similar to those we saw in El Salvador 25 years ago. The museum was not air-conditioned and we began to wilt again. About half the group elected to stay in town and explore, the rest of us opted to return to the hotel and rest. Copan is built in the Spanish colonial style with a central square surrounded by low buildings and dominated by a whitewashed Catholic church on one side. It is hilly with cobblestone paving on narrow streets. Dinner at the hotel was tilapia, a freshwater fish with fries. We were still gulping water by the liter.
Saturday. April 26--Copan
After breakfast, our tour took us back to the Copan ruins, this time to the museum. The entrance was a dark tunnel, perhaps 700 ft. - emulating the tunnel that we did not enter yesterday. The main exhibit was of the rose-colored Rosalila, (below) a polychrome temple found buried under one of the pyramids at Copan. Apparently this was considered so important that care was taken to construct the outer structure in such a way as not to damage the Rosalila. (The usual Mayan practice was to trash an underlying structure when they built over it.) The covering protected the coloration through the centuries. For those of us, accustomed to the gray weathered Mayan stone ruins, the long-buried Rosalila, in brilliant color, serves as a window onto the appearance of Mayan cities in their prime. The actual Rosalila is still buried. The museum contains a replica. Inexplicitly, the museum is open to the elements, no roof. So, the replica is being exposed to the damaging erosion of the elements and the sun's UV rays. The museum structure itself, acoustic tiles around the roof opening and the wood sheathing over the steel supports are all showing water damage after only 6 years.
After a self guided two-hour exploration of the museum, (Text continues on next page)
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