Copán is on the very edge of the Mayan area in Honduras.  It has the second largest ball court.

The Copán  River has eroded the edge of the city, giving scientists a cut-away view of how the temple was build

The Maya usually built on top of their old monuments, going higher, wider and fancier. So the buildings are like a series of nesting blocks.

Copán  has 3500 mounds in the 9 square miles around the temples.

There is a Hieroglyphic Staircase. Built in the year 743, the staircase tells the official history of the ancestors of King Smoke Shell. It is the most complete history of kings found in any Maya site.

The kings of Copán enjoyed feeling important. They built the  Forest of the Kings, a field of elaborately carved stelae that are almost full sized statues.

Living in the area are monkeys, bright guacamayas (large parrots) and tree sloths. You can also see peccaries, which look like huge, round guinea pigs. They are covered with short gold hairs flecked with black.