After a comfortable 8 hour bus journey which included a traffic hold up in Guatemala City, some beautiful scenery of emerald green rolling hills and mountains and a straightforward border crossing into Honduras we arrived in Copan at lunchtime.
Copan is an attractive cobbled town located just inside the border from Guatemala and is famous for it Mayan Ruins, a UNESCO designated site.
Marial our Intrepid guide led us on an orientation tour of Copan which was helpful and made things much easier for us. We usually have to rely on Google Maps when trying to find ATM’s or restaurants. Google Maps isn’t always accurate and throughout the year we’ve had plenty of frustrated pacing up and down the same piece of street several times trying to find a TripAdvisor ‘must visit’ super highly recommended restaurant!
To our delight we were then taken to Via Via for a group lunch with our 11 fellow Intrepid travellers! Yay! We spent a fair amount of time in Yogyakarta‘s Via Via back in February. Via Via was set up by 4 Belgian travellers in 1994 and has a brilliant concept of using local organic produce, supporting local community projects and employing local people. There are only two Via Via’s in the whole of Central America with the other being in Leon, Nicaragua.
Following lunch and after the long journey which began at 5 am we spent the rest of the day having a relaxing natural spa experience!
Luna Jaguar Hot Springs
These are located about 45 minutes from Copan along a dirt track which winds its way up and down through rainforest Jurassic Park-esq scenery.
Nine of us went as part of an organised Intrepid travel tour. We stopped off at a supermarket and brought beers which were loaded into the ice box on the roof of the mini bus.
We drove along in the sun, then through a short thundery shower and reached the hot springs at about 5 pm. Luckily we were the only tourists there as the hot springs usually close at 5 or 6 pm!
We walked through the rainforest and across a narrow wooden suspension bridge to the hot springs which are set amidst the dense trees in a pretty and idylic setting.
There are several small pools each being supplied with constant volcanic hot spring water. The pools vary in temperature with the average being 36 degrees.
The pools form a natural spa treatment setting where you can have an impressive natural back massage from one waterfall, use the clay mud to give yourself a facial treatment and walk in and out of hot and cold pools for your feet!
The hot springs have been kept in a natural and rustic setting with tasteful Mayan sculptures carefully placed in various locations around the grounds.
We felt that we had been transported to an enchanted forest as we relaxed in the hot spring, chatting with our fellow Intrepid travellers and sipping the beers. The evening became even more atmospheric when the sky grew dark, candles were lit and the clouds began to gently rumble with some background thunder!
The subsequent lightening and rain made a timely appearance when we eventually left the hot springs and made our way to a large canopy under which we sat and enjoyed a superb meal of local Honduras food.
We had a magical time at the hot springs and would highly recommend a visit.
frombluetogreen.com 
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