Raphael Kessler

Honduras is famous for its diving and the Bay Islands have become a haven for divers as it is one of the cheapest places to get dive qualifications, with many of the outfits they are cheap for a reason, the diving in the area is very good and I took a few photos whilst I was underwater, below is a sample of them. The first photo shows a flamingo tongue on a coral. The second a barrel sponge and the third the bizarre upside down jellyfish.

The ancient Mayan site of Copan has some excellent petroglyphs and some interesting structures. The names of the rulers of Copan are quite peculiar, some of which are now known to be incorrectly given by archaeologists who mistranslated the hieroglyphics, an example of this is Eighteen Rabbit whose stele stands proudly in the middle of the complex (photos 1 & 3).  The small pyramid is in quite a good state of repair (photos 2 & 3), unlike the larger pyramid (photo 4) which needs a lot of restoration. As in most ancient Mayan complexes the ball court is in a prominent position (photo 5), this was where the ball players recreated the cosmic interplay by knocking a ball round a court, and hopefully through a hoop which would mean they won the game and the losing team were all sacrificed. One of the more impressive bits in Copan was the Hieroglyphic Staircase (photo 6) where every step has Mayan hieroglyphs on it. There are interesting carvings and hieroglyphics all over the place (e.g. photo 7).

In Copan I had the opportunity to see some scarlet macaws (photos 1 & 2), a really beautiful bird and becoming increasingly endangered as so many are sold in to the pet market particularly in the United States. On a smaller scale I also saw a poisonous caterpillar (photo 3).