I think I owe San Pedro Sula mentioned. After all, we have been in the city for 3 weeks. Not by choice, I might say. We were coming from Puerto Cortes with the bus and were on our way farther south. We had to change bus in San Pedro Sula and I persuaded Dieter to stay for a couple of days due to my backache. Going much further in a bus, would only make it worse. Dieter agreed, and a couple of days turned in to 3 weeks. After a couple of days, I got really sick. The very nice Dr. Bermúdez said I had a virus, maybe dengue fever.

So most of my 3 weeks in San Pedro Sula, I rested. Preferable in bed. Nevertheless, we saw more of San Pedro Sula, than our hotel room.

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Jeg syntes jeg skylder at nævne San Pedro Sula, eftersom vi har været i byen i tre uger. Ikke af fri vilje, om man må sige. Vi kom med bussen fra Puerto Cortes og var på vej længere syd på. Vi skulle skifte bus i San Pedro Sula og jeg overtalte Dieter til, at blive i byen et par dage, da jeg havde ondt i ryggen. En længere bustur ville bare gøre det værre. Dieter var enig, men et par dage blev til tre uger. Efter et par dage blev jeg virkelig syg. Den meget rare dr. Bermúdez sagde jeg havde en virus, muligvis dengue feber.

Det meste af de tre uger i San Pedro Sula, slappede jeg af. Helst i sengen. Alligevel så vi mere af San Pedro Sula, end vores hotelværelse.

San Pedro Sula is the second largest city in Honduras and is known as the industrial city. Downtown, you will find the beautiful cathedral and right across it, there is the cosy Parque Central, (Central Park).

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San Pedro Sula er den næststørste by i Honduras og er kendt som industri byen. I midt byen kan man se den smukke katedral og lige overfor den, er den hyggelige Parque Central, (en park - på dansk vil man nok kalde det torvet ).

The city also has an excellent Anthropology Museum, where you can see a pretty good exhibition about the area, from the time way before Columbus up until today.

San Pedro Sula is not my favourite city. The people are nice, and there are some beautiful things here but it is nothing more than a big city, being a big city with a lot of traffic, factories, shops and people living here.

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Byen har også et glimrende antropologisk museum, der er en ret så god udstilling om livet i lokalområdet fra før Columbus og til i dag.

San Pedro Sula er ikke min foretrukne by. Folk er søde og der er nogle smukke ting her, men det er ikke andet end en stor by. Det er en storby med meget trafik, fabrikker, forretninger og folk, der bor her.

Not surprisingly, Copán was exciting. Not as big as Tikal, but where Tikal is renowned for its tall temple pyramids, Copán is renowned for the unbelievable detailed sculptures, stelaes, and altars.

Based on the founding of ceramic dated back to 1200 B.C., people are believed to have lived in the area since then, and perhaps even before.

A number of kings and rulers in the pre-Columbian times are known through archaeological evidence.

I will mention a few names of the rulers and kings, that used rule this area. Around AD. 426 – 435 a mysterious king named Great Sun Lord Quetzal Macaw. From 435 – 628 are known a few; Mat Head, Water Lily Jaguar and Moon Jaguar. One of the greatest kings was Smoked Jaguar.

Some archaeological evidence suggests the Copán civilisation came to an end, due to overpopulation. The people were no longer self-sufficient. Skeletal remains show evidence of malnutrition, diseases and shorter lifespan.

Ikke overraskende, var Copán et spændende sted. Ikke så stort som Tikal, mens Tikal er kendt for de høje pyramider, er Copán kendt for utroligt detaljerede skulpturer, stentavler og altre.

Baseret på keramiske fund dateret tilbage til 1200f. K. Mener man at mennesker har boet i området siden da eller måske tidligere.

Et antal konger og herskere fra før Columbus er kendt fra arkæologiske udgravninger. Jeg nævner lige et par stykker af de regerende i området; Omkring 426-435 regerede en mystisk konge, der hed Den Store Sol Herre. Fra 435-628 kendes et par stykker, blandt andre; Måtte hoved, Åkande Jaguar og Måne Jaguar. Én af de største konger var Røget Jaguar.

Arkæologiske fund antyder at civilisationen i Copán bukkede under pga. overbefolkning. Samfundet var ikke længere selvforsynende. Knoglefund viser at et fald i levestandarden gjorde, at de oplevede flere sygdomme og en kortere levealder.

Good Friday is probably one of the most holy days in Central America. There are several traditions around Easter time but Good Friday is to me, the most beautiful celebrated with a procession across a blanket made of coloured sawdust.

In Tegucigalpa, it is a tradition that goes back to the time of Columbus. The past four years it is the church there that has made the sawdust blanket and arranged the procession, with help from a catholic church group and people who are volunteering. Before that, just ordinary people made the blanket, each in front of their own house. To day, everything is arranged by the church. The blanket is going to be 500 m. altogether and about 200 people are working on it.

At the procession there will be carried holy figures of Jesus, Virgin Mary, angels and others out of the church. After that, the parade continues down at the street with the blanket, which is parallel to the church. Everything is pretty and you can tell that several people are touched by the event.

When the procession is over, the children start to collect the sawdust in bags. A souvenir, from a holy successfully completed evening.

Langfredag er nok én af de helligste dage i Mellemamerika. Der er flere traditioner omkring påsken, men langfredag, syntes jeg, bliver fejret utroligt smukt, med en procession henover et tæppe lavet af farvet savsmuld.

I Tegucigalpa er det en tradition fra tilbage til Columbus tiden. De sidste 4 år er det kirken der har stået for det, med hjælp fra en katolsk forening og frivillige. Før hen, var det private mennesker, der lavede det såkaldte tæppe foran deres hus. I dag er det som sagt kirken, der står for det hele. Tæppet bliver i alt 500 m. langt og ca. 200 mennesker arbejder på det.

Ved processionen bliver der båret hellige figurer af Jesus, Jomfru Maria, engle og andre ud af kirken. Dernæst fortsætter kortegen ned ad den savsmuldstæppe belagte gade, der er en parallelgade til kirken. Det hele er rigtigt fint og man kan se, at mange mennesker blive berørt af begivenheden.

Da hele optoget er ovre, begynder børn at samle, det nu sammentrådte savsmuld i poser. En souvenir, fra en hellig veloverstået aften.