Fernando

I have always admired people who live their lives with great focus, mostly because mine has been the complete opposite. Fernando (I don't know his last name) is one such person. A native Honduran, he went to Duke and then graduate school at Tulane in Archeology. For the last 30 years, he has been digging tunnels through Temple 16 in the Copan Ruins, a Mayan City that dates back 3000 years. The research is paid for by Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

Al Steele arranged for us to walk through the tunnels with Fernando, a tour not open to the public. There were seven buildings on the site, the last of which was plastered over and buried in the 1600's. He has carefully removed the rock and the plaster to find these ancient treasures.

Fernando told us that he hated the tunneling, but it had to be done to accomplish what he accomplished. Next month, he will retire and spend his remaining years writing up his findings. Perhaps historians will appreciate his writing, but laymen only have to see the attached pictures.