Copan

As far as ruins go, the bar has been set pretty high for me. It's hard to top Tikal and Machu Picchu. Copan may not be the biggest or most impressive ruins site that I've seen, but it was one of the most serene. For the first hour, we had the ruins almost entirely to ourselves. We could climb on nearly all of the exposed buildings. It is also much more intricately-detailed than any of the other ruins I have visited. There is one tower where each step is made entirely of heiroglyphics telling the Mayans' history. Almost as impressive as the buildings, were the incredible trees. The trunks were as big as a car and the branches reached over even the highest towers.

In the ball court, shown below, the warriors would play with a ball made entirely of stone, trying to hit stone macaw heads on opposing sides of the court. The "winner" would receive the honor of being sacrificed to the Gods. That sounds like one game I would be happy to lose.