Copán Ruinas - Santa Rosa de Copán

Having a new-found respect for Honduras with our uplifting stays in Yojoa and Copán, we were in high spirits as we boarded a bus from Copán to Santa Rosa this morning. The trip was proceeding as well as could be expected until we came across a hold up in the road. Looking out the window all I could make out was a bus pulled over to the side of the road as if stopped and a figure slumped on the ground.

Now, it's not unusual to see people slumped on the road in Central America. We've seen first hand the effects of a few too many beers (or whatever they were taking), having had to circumnavigate a few prostrate figures after dark in various Guatemalan cities. We even witnessed one inebriate having to be pulled from the middle of a busy road after he thought it would be a good place for a nap.

This was different, however. A group of other people - whom we took to be the passengers of the bus - were standing around behind a line of yellow tape. As I watched I saw a policeman appear from behind the bus and turn over the figure on the ground. I could tell from the indelicacy of the operation that the non-responsive figure was either in no danger whatsoever or was past help. There certainly seemed to be no attempt by anyone to provide medical attention. As we drove past the macabre scene we could see that one of the windows on the bus had been broken - seemingly from the outside.

It was quite surreal in that there was nothing we could do except to carry on with our journey - but it reminded us that this is certainly a different place from what we're used to. I'm still not certain about what had taken place - I'm still hoping that the guy was just passed out drunk - but it's entirely possible that he'd been shot (either on purpose or by accident) through the window of the bus.

So we arrived in Santa Rosa in a slightly different state of mind from how we left Copán Ruinas.