Quetzal

Honduras means 'the depths'. She was given that name

since her seas are very deep.Also, because if you go there, you never know what to expect. “No te metas en honduras” is an old aunties saying, warning you not to go too deep...but that’s another story which I shall tell you later.

The highest mountain in Honduras is called Celaque; it's very near the Guatemalan border. Awesome cloud forests lead to Celaque's peak. There you can see, if you are lucky, the Quetzal bird. They are in danger of extinction. Their image is preserved on the Guatemalan Quetzal note, as it is the currency and  emblem of that country.

Julian and I climbed up Celaque just before the turn of the century. - The sound of that makes me feel  very wise and ancient, but then this century is very young!-  so  perched high up on a very tall tree in this very tall mountain we suddenly saw a Quetzal! There he was with his long tail and his head crowned by an exuberant
feathered crest, calling his mate. 

We took a picture, but the Central American sacred bird 

was no more than a dot among the greenery; 

only Julian and I knew it was there, but we could proudly

point and say “look! That’s a quetzal".

Back in Copan I bought this quetzal silver and jade pendant  

and wove it into a piece of bark to show you all what we did see.

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Quetzal

Silver and jade on CLon cord and Hill Tribe sterling silver beads. Eucaliptus bark and acrylic.

50x20cm

Like all my pieces it is an exclusive design.

You can either hang the whole piece on the wall or wear the necklace.