Honduras

A look at the spurt and stop travel method.

El Salvador for Semana SantaNext week is Saint’s week across Latin America, a holy holiday between Palm Sunday and Easter devoted to the Saints of Catholicism. There is no work, in some countries no alcohol is sold, and the people have nothing to do but worship and have a holiday. In my experiences in Latin [...]

Mayan Archaeology at CopanArchaeology at Copan moves at the pace of a tropical afternoon. That is to say, very slowly. Weeks of work by a crew of fifteen men and one woman amounts to only a few cubic meters of excavated earth. If one is in search for a career which has small chance of [...]

Mayan WarfareA four inch long conical arrow made of animal bone sits wedged against the spine of a skeleton buried in a residential area of Copan. During the days of this excavation I had wondered more than once at how this individual met his end. Now I know. He was killed by another human. Probably [...]

A Vagabond Journey Around the WorldI travel to feel free. Or so I think. I write to feel free. Or so I also think. “You keep trying so hard to be free that you are just wearing yourself out,” says my mother.Maybe she is right. But I feel fine. The sky is blue, and I [...]

No Photos of Copan ArchaeologyAnother day of excavating skeletons. Well, actually, I just stood around watching today. The Japanese osteology specialist was at the helm. He scraped, ever slowly scraped the grains of soil from the orangish bones with dental tools. Archaeology is a slow process. We are only making an few inches of ground [...]

Honduran SundayCopan Ruinas on a Sunday afternoon: rancheros in big cowboy hats gather in the village square with ladies in flowery dresses and dirty white aprons who are selling mangoes. Tourists walk by with big cameras pointing at things and taking photographs. Little brown boys in buckshot t-shirts play chasing games and laugh. Sunday is [...]

Travel and Food PoisoningFood poisoning is one of the biggest threats to a traveler, and, unfortunately, is one that anyone who wanders for a little jaunt will invariably have to deal with from time to time. I do not know where food poisoning comes from or how it really happens- probably something with bacteria- so [...]

Unearthing Skeletons at CopanCopan is the first archaeology site that I have worked on with the regular presence of human remains. Skeletons are growing out of the bottom of trenches as the soil is gingerly removed from their exteriors. The Central American and Japanese excavators stand over the remains and talk shop. Digging up the [...]