I'd heard for years that Honduras was the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere. I'd pretty much scratched if off the list of places that I would ever consider visiting. H_O_W_E_V_E_R, I was in Guatemala and Honduras was "just around the corner. I really wanted to see the ruins of Copan so very much!

I got advice from a travel agent in Guatemala. He said that in the past, you had to take a bus from San Pedro de Sula through the rain forest for a few hours. San Pedro is a dangerous place. And, a bus load of tourists on a deserted road though the rain forest just begged to be robbed. It happened often.

There was another way to get to Copan Ruinas . It involved taking a local bus with Hondurans on a ride that just crossed the border and only drove twelve miles into Honduras. The ride gave me one of my best travel stories ever and I had a wonderful AND SAFE visit in Honduras.