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COPAN RUINS lie 1.5km east of town, a pleasant fifteen-minute walk along a raised footpath that runs parallel to the highway. Entrance to the site (daily 8am-4pm; US$10 including the Las Sepultras ruins, though access to the archeological tunnels is an extra US$12) is through the visitor centre on the left-hand side of the car park, where a small exhibition explains Copan's place in the Maya World. Inside the visitor centre there's a ticket office and a desk where you can hire a registered site guide (US$10 for 2hr) - an excellent investment if you really want to get the most out of Copan. On the other side of the car park is a cafeteria , serving drinks and reasonable meals, and a small souvenir shop. Opposite the visitor centre is the terrific Museum of Mayan Sculpture (daily 8am-4pm; US$5), arguably the finest in the entire Maya region, with a tremendous collection of stelae, altars, panels and well-labelled explanations in English. You enter through a dramatic entrance doorway, resembling the jaws of a serpent, and pass through a tunnel (signifying the passage into xibalba , or the underworld). Dominating the museum is a full-scale, flamboyantly painted replica of the magnificent Rosalila Temple , built by Moon Jaguar in 571 and discovered intact under Temple 16. A vast crimson and jade coloured mask of the Sun God, depicted with wings outstretched, forms the main facade of the temple. Other ground-floor exhibits concentrate upon aspects of Maya beliefs and cosmology, while the upper floor houses many of the finest original sculptures from the Copan valley, comprehensively displaying the skill of the Maya craftsmen. From the museum it's a 200m walk east to the warden's gate , the entrance to the site proper, where your ticket will be checked and where there are usually several squabbling macaws to greet your arrival - these are tame and sleep in cages by the gate at night.
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