Honduras II and Copan

I rode some smaller secondary roads through Honduras and found myself taking a few detours and ending up well off the beaten path when the road I was on gradually disappeared.  Luckily, I was not too far off course and found my way back to a graded dirt road which eventually led back to pavement. 

The roads thru Honduras, as with many in south and central America, are poorly maintained and often full of potholes - it's one very good reason not to ride at night.  But, I noticed there seemed to be an over abundance of them on the particular route I had chosen thru Honduras on my way north.  I saw many potholes so large that they could end your ride if you hit one. As a result of the poorly maintained roads, it is common to see oncoming vehicles swerving into your lane to avoid hitting a pothole. But, they will usually swerve back into their own lane before your paths cross. And, having been thoroughly indoctrinated into this way of sharing the road, I should have handled this specific incident much better.  But, I fully expected a large oncoming truck to move back onto his side of the winding hilly road as the distance between us rapidly shrank.  When he did not, I was forced to ride off the edge of a fairly steep embankment. Fortunately my off-road experience severed me well as I rolled to a stop on the side of the embankment and merely waved the ADVrider salute to the departing truck driver. After the truck passed I could see why he did not move back over onto his side of the road - the pavement was basically missing, and there was nearly a one foot drop-off. Ooops.

Then it was on to the small town of Copan known for its Mayan ruins not far from the Guatemalan border.  I stayed in Copan for a couple days to take in the sights before moving on.