19 May, 2019
Somewhere in a galaxy… far… far… away… Blog masters log: In the 6th Katun of the 13th Vaktun a group of gringos traveled a great distance from the spotlight of the all seeing eye of the Solor Federation infidels to the Copan Valley. Marco Francisco took in all the wonder of his extended Valle Valle families empire that once ruled this region of Copan with a white powdery iron fist only to be brought down a more powerful and corrupt organization… La Maquina Politica. The landscape littered with remnants of days gone past… the reign of blood now ceased from the echoes of chaos… this was but the first of the Ruins we visited on the road today. We travel onward… upward… downward… side to side through the maze of roads to our final destination of the Mayan Ruin complex.
This 1 kin trip scheduled for the team by Pastor Rey for a little rest and relaxation with an added educational benefit for most of the team. Pastor Rey, Mater, Houdini and Marco had visited the site before while it was the first time for B-Rad, Lama, Dimebag and Easy Rider. Federation employees Maynor and David our driver Super Mario and Honduran guest Joselyn and Lucila joined us on this adventure. Our tour guide was a German migrant who had lived in Central America for sometime who’s English was still coated with a thick accent of barley and bratwurst. Pastor Rey told him I had once lived in the fatherland many Katuns ago. It was difficult for me to change gears form my broken Spanish to ‘Deutsch Sprechen’, but I thought it would be nice to speak to him in his native tongue.
The journey began as we entered into the complex through the garden area. Our guide took his time to explain that in the early day of exploration they constructed a landing strip in this area so the archeologists could bring in supplies… for there was no road to this area. He went on further to tell us that when the road was constructed in 1969, it was the first paved road in Honduras. The vegetation in the garden was a mix for traditional Mayan and local species. One particular tree that had thrones protruding from its bark was said to represent the 3 realms of Mayan belief… the trunk or base of the tree was for the here and now while the roots system represented the 9 circles of the underworld and would grow up to 40-50 meters deep finding water. As the branches and leaves projected upward they were a representation to illustrate the 13 levels of a Mayan heaven.
From the garden we moved into a grassy courtyard where a select few stones were strategically set for the Mayan gurus to tell time and day for their uber complex calender. In this area there was a monument to the 13th Mayan king who through his own administration of blood letting with a stingray barb to the junk… (loud gasp across the portal) to promote his virility just before being Be-headed. Moving from that preverbal nails across the black board area… we entered into the sports arena… even ancient civilizations needed a sports fix to break up the mundane rituals… including constant be-headings. This game between combatants… part soccer, part basketball, part pro wrestling used a stone ball near or equal to the size of the goal. They could not use their hands or feet to assist, but to throw it with the nook of the elbow… these teams were hand picked by the royals. On one side was the elite and on the other the common who never won a match… sounds like the Patriots of the NFL. The loser of the match was… you guessed it… be-headed. You could place your bet that the final score would always be 1-0! We gathered at the base of the great burial mount that was thought to contain 7 Mayan kings, each one in succession building a tribute to themselves greater than the last… not much has changed has it? We toured the great temple area and the kings palace in amazement and awe at the shear maginture of the construction techniques used to move the stones and the details enshrined in each block.
Rallying at the van we traveled to the downtown market area to dine on some local pizza, shop for a few gifts and trinkets from the vendors that littered the streets. The second leg of our journey culminated at Macaw Mountain for and evening tour of the bird reclamation and rehab center for this beautiful species of feathered lore. Most of these birds were rescued from their unnatural habitat and brought here to be made healthy again and eventually be released into the wild once again… most of the time that was at the Ruin site which is not very far away as the Macaw flies. We journeyed back across the long road to ruin towards the primary Federation to our primary compound for an evenings rest and preparation for our return to Teo and complete our primary objective of constructing a new bano complex for the school.
Goodnight Portholeos here from the dark side of the moon.
Marco Francisco
Honduras Agape 