Entries about birds

One Jaguar:
At the Luna Jaguar Hotsprings the naturally hot water is too hot and steamy to sit in by itself so they have to run cold water from a spring along with the hot water into a bunch of different pools. Some were cool. Some were warm. Some were hot. We had to take a tuktuk to get here and then had to walk over a hanging bridge, through a cave-like tunnel and over stepping stones in a river to get to the pools. There was a mud bath where we put mud on our faces and left it there to dry. We looked kind of funny with our faces all dirty, but our skin felt very soft when we washed it off in a warm waterfall shower. One shower had water coming out of a Mayan statue's mouth. Our tuktuk ride back to Copan was all uphill and we had to get out and walk up some of the hills. We all felt so relaxed and sleepy but it was a really bumpy road home and we had to hold on tight so we didn't fall out.

18 Rabbits:
Early one morning we headed to the Mayan ruins of Copan. Our guide, Gladys, pointed out all the amazing sculptures carved out of rock. One carving showed a person wearing a jaguar skin and dancing and it looked a lot like Tigger. The most powerful ruler was called "18 Rabbit". He was beheaded when he went to visit his friend (that's a frenemy!) in another Mayan city. After that, the regular people realized that their rulers weren't gods and were only humans. They lost faith in them and eventually people moved away from Copan and went to other Mayan cities. The rulers all had funny names: Smoke Snake, Smoke Shell, Sunrise and, of course, 18 Rabbit. Chichen Itza and Tikal were both bigger than Copan, but Copan had so many beautiful carved statues and even a carved staircase so I thought it was the most beautiful.

Lots of Macaws:
The scarlet macaw is the national bird of Honduras. Macaw Mountain is a sanctuary and rehabilitation centre for scarlet macaws, toucans, and other tropical birds. Lots of people foolishly buy wild birds from poachers and then can't care for them properly. These birds can live for 80 years if cared for properly. Like other parrots (in the wild) they find a mate and are together for the rest of their lives. If their partner dies they can get very lonely. Once these birds are rehabilitated they are eventually released at the gates to the Mayan ruins of Copan where a large group of scarlet macaws live.

Ailsa, Fraser and I spent the day looking for feathers on the ground and we ended up with an amazing collection. There was one part of the centre where we were allowed to have the birds sit on our shoulders. It felt so cool but they were very heavy!