Saved on Sifnos - a travel story out of the Aegean Sea that includes little harbours, sleeping villages, several tavernas, a ferry onward, a Greek cultures festival and a room with a view, travelogue, trip, travel, Greece, Cyclades, Sifnos, Kythnos, ferry, island-hopping

 
 
 

 





The kitchen of Hacienda Santa Lucas


December 17, 2000
Butterflies, Haciendas, and Las Seputuras

Today, was a busy, fun day. We decided that we'd better put that expensive 4 wheel drive to good use. We began with a trip to the butterfly farm. This place is an offshoot of another farm in la Cieba. Both were started by a Peace Corps volunteer, Robert Gaillardo, in conjunction with the San Diego Zoo who helped with funding and purchase the pupae. There, we chatted with Robert, who started the place, and is now married to a Honduran woman. He's also from Southern California, but has no plans to return. He explained the whole process and the entire life cycle of owl butterfly. The "farm" is actually a net covered enclosure,
L-shaped, and filled with tropical plants, a waterfall and dozens of different fluttering butterflies. Unfortunately, many of the pupae hadn't hatched recently, so there weren't as many butterflies as usual. Still, we did see a rather large "owl" butterfly and some other interesting red and black butterflies.

From the Butterfly Farm, we crossed the river and drove up an unpaved road and a very steep hill until we reached Hacienda San Lucas. There we were greeted by Hacienda owner, Doña Flavia, a Honduran woman whose family has owned the hacienda and the surrounding 200 acres for the last 100 years. She used to live in Kentucky and has three children who live in the US. A couple of years back she returned to Honduras to find the place so dilapidated that she had to almost tear it all down and start over. With a lot of hard work and effort, she has a lovely place that includes 2 rooms for rent for $45 night inc. breakfast. The rooms have no electricity, but do have some light run by 12 volt solar powered batteries. Doña Flavia wants to revive homestyle, traditional, Honduran cooking. She is doing this with the aid of two or three local women who help cook over the open fire in the kitchen. We stayed and had a wonderful lunch, served on the front porch of the Hacienda, consisting of all manner of savory items, including an incredible tamale, stewed chicken, and pork ribs. She also offers ice cold lemonade.

After the filling lunch, we took a walk around her property, which includes marked trails, and a Mayan archeological site called Las Sosas. Las Sosas is basically a bunch of moss covered boulders, one of which, if you squint enough, is a frog shaped rock. Myth has it that this is where Mayan women came to give birth. From here, as with most of the Hacienda San Lucas property, there are great views of the entire valley. Eco-Hacienda San Lucas Copan, Honduras. Please see the photo page "Moments" for pictures of the butterfly farm and of Las Sosas.

Back at the Hacienda, we met two Americans who teach in the bilingual school in Copan. They had walked up from the town, planning an outing for later in the week with their students. We gave them a ride back down and then drove to Las Sepulturas, another set of ruins. Las Sepulturas means the tombs. Originally, people thought that these were just tombs, thus the name, but now it's thought that this was a suburb of the main center of Copan, filled with homes that include tombs underneath. We arrived at the entrance and showed the guard/guide or tickets from the main Copan Ruins from the day before (the ticket is good for both entrances). The man insisted on showing us the way and wound up giving us a tour of the ruins en espanol. Ultimately, it was worth it, as he gave us quite a bit of information. At the end, we tipped him 50L.

Part 6: Where flying is a pleasure?


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