–Insert sarcastic commentary here about navigating Honduran roads in the tiny car. Summary: We left Trinidad and 3 hours (a million potholes, and countless speed bumps) later we arrived without incident at our next destination.–
On the next leg of our trip with Ma ‘n’ Pa Lee we visited the city of Copán Ruinas. Copán Ruinas is without a doubt the prettiest of any Honduran city due to the wealth of income and international funding attracted by its Mayan ruins. The city is something out of Disney World.
Besides the Mayan ruins, there are several other attractions including canopy tours, horseback riding, and tons of local and international restaurants. We opted to skip the canopy tour this time (Kristi and I did it on our last trip to the area, survived, and are done) and chose to visit Macaw Mountain.
This beautiful bird sanctuary was founded by an American expat in the area and includes more than 20 species of birds. The sanctuary is set in an old growth forest and the grounds are exquisitely maintained with loads of native tropical plants. A local tour guide gave us a tour, in English, of each of the bird habitats. Although it was her third day on the job she was very knowledgeable and definitely enhanced the experience. (Side note: pretty much everyone in Copán Ruinas speaks English.) The birds in the sanctuary are rescued or donated from private owners that could not properly care for the birds. Birds born in the sanctuary are often released into the wild. Many of the released birds live at the archeological park.
The tour concluded with an opportunity to meet several of the birds face-to-face. I’ll let some of our photos explain:
Curious bird
Cafe over the river
Buffy (!!!) on the left and Mitzi on the right
Parents & Parrots
Although not pictured, my mom at one point had a bird on each arm and one on her head!
This crazy Toucan was hopping all over the place
As alluded to in the previous Parental Adventures post, I mistakenly erased all of my mom’s photos from her digital camera that included pictures from Trinidad and Macaw Mountain.
The little birdie told me to do it, I swear!
I have subsequently been banned from all electronics other than my cell phone. This blog was actually dictated to Kristi as I am not allowed to touch her computer (joking – mostly).
Still more to come from Parental Adventures!
You deleted all of her vacation photos!!?? Well at least you have sweet bird sanctuary photos.
Just the first three days of pictures…if that makes it any better.
David you’re funny. But really…Enjoyed your post and the remaining pictures
Pretty birds
Love D’s face!! Lol
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