sorry it took so long to reply!!
my trip to honduras (just last summer, july) was really great - actually i spent about 12 days there, and four weeks in guatamala, which is absolutely amazing also! unfortunately, i didn't get to spend much time touring - i was on an archaeological expedition with my aunt (she is an archaeologist) so i spent most of the time sweating away in a grungy old lab. great fun! i got to handle ancient mayan relics, i washed ancient bones (some of which were human), made scales (for measurement in pictures), etc. sounds boring, i didn't actually work in the field (excavate) because my aunt figured that tents in the middle of the jungle would be a little too much for my first trip to central america. im only fifteen, so my parents were kind of worried :D.
for the last two days however, we traveled around in the little town just outside copan, and visited the site. we rode tuk-tuks everywhere - your relatives who live there prolly know what they are. tiny little cabs that are like motorcycles with a bench in the back and a cover over top. usually they're red but sometimes they're yellow. they are very scary, because copan has insanely steep hils, and trying to get up them in a tiny little tuk-tuk filled with people is a terrifying experience. corners are scary too, since the drivers like going top speed!
OH also if you're going to the copan area, you HAVE to visit the bird sanctuary!! i know it sounds really boring, but its REALLY COOL. you get to actually hold all sorts of parrots and macaws, but don't wear a nice shirt, because i got pooped on. oh well it was worth it!
but i do have to warn you, i don't know if you've never been to a poor country before, there is a lot of poverty there. you probably already know that, but its not the same when you see the scrawny, filthy little children on the streets, or the pregnant dogs, just skin and bones except their big droopy bellies. its really shocking, but i learned so much there, it was really an worthwhile experience. it was really the dogs that broke my heart, i swear i knew all of them. you have to walk about an hour through the brush to get to the archaeological lab (from the copan site), and one time i met a doggie who followed me all the way home to the apartment we were staying in! it was so sweet, i hated to say goodbye! another thing i loved there was that there were huge thunderstorms everyday. it would be sunny and gorgeous, and then ten minutes later a tropical storm would be in full swing! let me tell you i got soaked several times in our hikes to the lab!
another warning for you - i don't know if you are a girl or a guy, but those latino boys really like tourists, no matter what you look like! i would be the last person to call myself attractive, but when we were in florez (guatemala) i was riding in the back of a pick up truck (it was going very slow, those narrow streets you know) and some youngish (16-18 yrs) boys decided that they were in love with me. they followed the truck until i rapped on the window and got my auntie to come out and yell at them (she speaks spanish). that sort of thing happened a couple more times, to my aunt as well because she is very pretty, but she is used to it because she has been going to central america for 20 years (this year was her 20th anniversary of her first trip
). at the beginning of the trip, i mostly thought it was hilarious, but after a while it got very tiring, and not a little creepy. so a warning! make sure, if you're a girl, to keep a guy with you, or a pepper spray or whatever, and if you're a guy watch your ladies!
so there are my funny honduras stories. i would not give up my experience for anything, it was really incredible, the good and the bad. i hope you have a really, really good time. and if you can, you should either visit tikal which is a HUGE mayan city, its even cooler than copan, but its in guatemala and pretty far away. or antigua which is an incredible spanish colonial city in guatemala, about 30 minutes from guatemala city. its honestly the most beautiful city i have ever been to, and GOOD LORD it has the best food ever. it has traditional mayan dishes, as well as western, italian, you name it! i would particularly recommend cennicienta's brownies, and their banana and yoghurt licuado - absolutely HEAVENLY!!!!!!!! i don't know how you are getting to honduras, is there an airport there? you may be arriving in the guatemala city airport, in which case you could probably stop in at antigua, they have some amazing hotels. i do not suggest you spend any more time in guatemala city than you have to. it is the yuckiest place in the universe! and unless you want a very, very memorable (not in the good way) experience, i do not suggest you travel by chicken bus! i don't know if they have chicken buses in honduras, but they did in the atitlan lakes, so im assuming they probably do in honduras as well. your relatives may know about them, but if they don't: chicken buses are school buses that the states gives to guatemala when they are deemed too unsafe and too unhealthy. big huge black clouds of deisel fumes follow them around, and they are painted in lurid colours to make them more of a "tourist attraction" you are lucky if you can get a seat, and if you can, it will be scrunched up (and by this i mean sitting on top of) the person next to you, who most likely hasn't taken a bath in the last month. makes for a good story at least! i took one from antigua to guate city, it was about and hour long (because of the stops) and the drivers are INSANE.
so now i really AM going to stop writing (you can tell i loved it, can't you?) this is probably the longest post i have ever written! i wish you the best of trips!! if you have any more questions, i SWEAR i won't take as long answering them!!!!!
we take our dogs to a "dogs at camp" thing thats about an hour away from us. the dogs love it, they get to run around in the country all day and sleep in a big barn at night!! there's about an acre of fenced in area that they can wander around in and the go for hikes a couple times a day. they don't get pawgress reports though, that the cutest thing!! did your doggies get an A+?