At 6am I am standing outside the hostel “Los amigos” waiting for the guy from the agency. With me is Thorop who I met yesterday in the hostel. Just like me he was looking for people to go to the El Mirador and so we both signed up for the 5 day trip today. We don’t have to wait too long for our man who brings us to the agency where we meet the other people. We are 6 in total and all from different origins - Thorop from Portland, Ohio, Pilar from Guatemala City, Emanuel from Mexico City, Michael from Dublin, and Else from a small place in the south of France. Our destination point is Carmelita, a tiny village in the north of Guatemala, right at the border of the jungle. In the car with us is another group of 4 Belgians who are going for a 3 day trip. On the way we have to stop in another village to pick up our guide where all the trouble begins because our driver doesn’t have a clue where to meet the guy and doesn´t even know his name. I give him my phone so that he can call the agency to sort this out and I can see in this guys eyes that he doesn’t really give a damn shit!!! The agency only can give him the name of his father and we start driving around asking people if they know this man without any success. When we stop at a shop to ask again a young man walks by who is our man. We continue our travel to the next spot where we are supposed to offload the other group and carry on. Once again the bloody idiot of a driver doesn’t know where the guides are and we waste time until we finally find them.
The other group is supposed to have breakfast at this point but the driver tells us that there was no money for us which the agency gave him. Not knowing better we decide to eat as well since it is already past 9am. We reach Carmelita after 11am and are being told that we shouldn’t leave today since its already too late – definitely not something I wanted to hear! And when the guys suggest that we do a 4 day trip instead of a 5 day trip I am not amused anymore and let them know it. While we were discussing what best to do, the useless peace of sh…t of a driver, realizing that he is at fault for the trouble, gets in the car and drives off. When he goes he even has the insolence to wave goodbye to Mike with a big smile on his face. At the end of the day the people there tell us that we were supposed to be there 2 hours earlier. The way would be too muddy and we would be too late at the next resting point so that its more reasonable to go tomorrow. We are also told that our breakfast was supposed to be here since the agency paid for it. At the end of the day we decide to stay over night in Carmelita and start the next morning. We are served lunch which is a copy of our breakfast – eggs with frijoles – and after that we all chill out and start to get to know each other better. The day ends with a really nice dinner.
9.8.10 Day 2
We get up at 7am and after having breakfast – again eggs and frijoles – we get ready to rumble. The guys load our stuff on the mules and we finally start our adventure. Pilar gets herself a mule to ride on since she is not up for the walk. At this time none of us thought it might be a good idea to have one too and we walk off. Our guides name is Nino and he is accompanied by a 17 year old Milkar whose father takes care of our shipment. The weather is beautiful – sunny and very hot – but once we enter the jungle we quickly find out why the guys didn’t want us to go yesterday. The way is extremely muddy and at some points very very hard to pass. My Timberland shoes that I bought before this trip are tested for the first time in difficult terrain and proof their worth. Nino tells me during the march that my shoes wouldn’t be too good for this mud but at the end of our 5 days I would be the only one who still have dry foots. Others aren’t that good prepared for this trip. The Computer Science lecturer Emanuel has brought 2 pairs of trainers on this trip and I wonder how he plans to walk with them all the way. Else on the other hand has bad luck since her new shoes that she is wearing for the first time fall apart on day one of our hike. Another piece of advice, if you go on a jungle trip in Central America, DON’T buy the shoes here or at least spend a reasonable amount.
After 7 hours of walking we reach our first resting point at Tintal and already after the first day Emanuel tells the guides that he wants to go back the next day since he is totally exhausted and cant see himself carry on. Nino tells him that there is probably anther group tomorrow which is returning and that he could join them if he really wants. All the others are still happy to carry on even though we all realize how challenging it will be. As a reward for the hard work on the first day we climb on one of the pyramids and get an amazing view on the seemingly endless jungle – absolutely breathtaking I can only say!!!
10.8.10 Day 3
The first night in the tent wasn’t very comfortable since the ground we were sleeping on wasn’t even and the mattress is very thin. Every time I rolled around I would wake up because of the pain. For my next jungle trip I will definitely bring my own since its twice as thick as the one I have now. But for now I have to put up with what I have. I take a shower in the “jungle baño” which is an in plastic covered tent with a bucket in it. The guy who gives us the shower water charges us Q 20 which isn’t that cheap but you got to do what you got to do ;) Emanuel decides to stay with us since our guides make another mule available for him and he has found new spirits and strength to carry on. The way today is much easier and drier than yesterday and we are all in good mood when we reach the first resting point after 3 ½ hours. We have some tuna sandwiches and watermelon and after 30 min start all over again. In Thorop I have found my walking partner who is keeping up with my pace and also leads. Milka is staying with us while Nino is with Pilar and the other guys are walking in between. Since the way today is pretty straight forward we don’t have to stop every time when the gap is too big, which is perfect for me and Thorop. Thorop told us that he is a Ultimate Frisbee player back home – a sport I never heard of before – and also loves to hike so that he is in good shape for this advature. With the day advancing the heat comes up again and makes the walk harder. I drink much more water today than yesterday since I slightly dehydrated at the end of the day due to insufficient amount of water. The mosquitoes aren’t as bad today but when we are getting closer to our destination the tiredness starts to get the better of us. Just before we reach “El Mirador” we come to a place which is covered with water and since we have no mule with us to carry us over Milka starts to work his way through the water to pave us a way with trees so that we don’t get wet feet. Pretty hard work for him which Thorop and I really appreciate. After we cross this difficult terrain I have only one goal on my mind – to get to the destination point asap!!! I am exhausted, my feet is hurting, the mosquitoes bother me and the heat is unbearable. But after another hour of walking we finally reach the end of our adventure and I get quickly out of my cloth and in to my shorts and flip flops. Meanwhile Milka has started preparing hot water for us so that we can have a cup of coffee very soon which pleases me extremely. After changing my clothes I go for a walk around our camping place to see if I can already view the pyramids, but all I can see is another camping place and a football field next to it which is full with pheasants. And so I return to our point and sit down at the fire place to have my coffee and a chat with Thorop. When I look down at my feet it looks pretty bad – wounds on my heals from the boots and inflamed skin all over my calf´s – but that’s what you sign up when you go in the jungle and I am glad that we have a day rest tomorrow ;)
The other guys arrive an hour later after 4pm totally, but totally exhausted. They must have had a pretty bad last few hours out there but at the end they too made it and we all gather around the fire place and relax. For the guides the work carries on since they have to prepare our tents. For themselves they have hammocks and we envy them for that since it would be sooo nice to sleep in them and we wonder why we don’t have hammocks. I discuss this point with Mike and tell him that “possibly there are not enough trees to hang them up”. It takes only seconds for me to realize what bullshit I just said, since I am staring at countless trees, and we both start laughing :D The rest of the evening we spent chilling together and don’t go anywhere since none of us has enough power or drive. Due to my condition I end up sleeping very early and very deep even though I have a root under my side.
11.8.10 Day 4
I wake up at 5am and wake all the others since we all want to see the sunrise from one of the pyramids. Nino makes us coffee and when we are all set we walk to “El Tigre” which is the closest pyramid. Just for the information to all who are reading this, “El Mirador” has the size of Los Angeles we are told by Dr. Richard Hensen the other day – pretty impressive huh. When we reach the top the view which is presented to us is simply mind-blowing. Once again we see only the jungle wherever we look. The best part is that we can listen from high above how the nature awakes – something they promise you in Tikal (another Mayan city opened up to mass tourism) – but only here you get the real experience of that. Loud monkey screams, bird tweets, the buzz of dragonflies that are flying over our heads and on the horizon the sun that slowly climbs out of the dark to bring us another day. When the sun is out we make our way back to the camp, have breakfast, relax and after 9am begin our expedition through the Mirador. Today it becomes very obvious how important it is to be able to speak Spanish in Latin America. None of our guides speaks English which makes it pretty tough for Thorop and Mike to understand what Nino tells us about the history and discovery of this place. Our first pyramid is also the most important one and the biggest – the “La Danta”. With 72m the highest Mayan pyramid in the world. This is the place where this Mayan kings were living, on top of the pyramid overlooking their empire. At the top of it we all realize what we came here for and we agree that it was worth all the pain and exhaustion we have or we will suffer to get here and back. I sit down on a rock and just look on the horizon where the jungle becomes one with the sky. For a moment I forget the people around me and get completely lost in this seemingly endless and beautiful world to become one with the nature – a moment of incredible joy!
After lunch and a good rest we set off again. I was about to skip this expedition in order to save my energy for the return but decide to go with the others (a decision that I don’t regret). We walk to one of the pyramids which that are uncovered at this moment and find a team of workers and archeologist there. Dr. Richard Hansen, the current director of the Mirador Project is kindly enough to give us vast information about the place, his work and the pyramid we are looking at. He tells us that he dedicated almost all his life to discover the wonder of this magic Mayan City and is working at the Mirador since 1979 – imagine this! As he carries on he tells us that the stone work we are looking has been accidently discovered by his team 2 years ago while they were trying to understand the water system of the side. On the first sight we all believe that its been polished and rebuilt since it looks so new. But Dr. Hansen explains us that we are actually looking at a perfectly preserved original work that was built some time between 400 and 300 b.Ch. and now belongs to one of the top ten archeological discoveries of recent times. In this moment you can hear all our chins fall down to the ground in astonishment and disbelieve. I am definitely not into archeology but to me and to all the others this was a magical moment – standing in front of something so special while talking to the man who discovered it. For an hour or so we continue to ask Dr. Hansen questions about the Mirador which he patiently and I guess with pleasure answered. When we are finally done we visit some other pyramids and sites but nothing can come close to what we have already seen. When we are back in the camp I get my book – Ana Frank Diario – and climb the “El Tigre” on my own. I spent more than an hour up there reading my book, watching the sun go down and contemplating about my short term future and my upcoming adventures. When the sun sets it gives way for another spectacular scene. All around us are thunderstorms and I can see lightening in different parts of the country. Strangely enough, by all the showers around us we had great weather all the way. I guess we are just pretty lucky ;) Since its already dark I have to use my newly acquired torch to go back to the camp and since walking on my own I got to admit that I got pretty scared getting lost in the jungle. But after 10 anxious minutes I can see the light of one camp.
11.8.10 Day 5
The return mission was about to begin. Thorop and I would team up again and go our own pace and only meet with the others at our first and only resting point. Nino prepares us some tuna sandwiches but tells us that this is the last bread that we have. As we are approaching the end of our journey we don’t care about it. After 30 min we are on the road again and today Thorop sets the pace while I am following him. He is pretty quick and for the last hour I am struggling to keep up with him. I can feel the pain on my feet again and only hope that we would be there asap. When I am about to ask Thorop what he thinks how close we are we pass a pond and I realize that we are there!!! To get to the Mirador we needed 8 hours the other day but coming back only 5 which amazes us since we believed today´s march will be even longer. The reason for that is that coming back the way goes slightly down most of the time which means that we had to master a slight incline the bother day. I get as quickly as possible out of my cloths and sit down at the fire place to relax. Today I feel absolutely shattered, without a single bit of energy left in my body. I just want to lie down somewhere cool and soft and fall asleep. But that’s not possible and instead the mosquitoes attack the bare parts of my body and annoy me. Mike and Else come 15 min after us. I am searching for the most comfortable place but cant find anything to sit on since my body aches in all positions. When all arrive Nino prepares us a little snack and tells us that we don’t have much drinking water left. While I am eating my pasta I get up and suddenly I am fading slightly. I am in serious need of proper rest and my body needs nutrition and minerals. Mike and Else brought a plover that you drink when you lose a lot minerals and I would do with some of that now but they have nothing left and I tell myself that I have to get that for my next jungle trip which I will definitely do sometime soon.
To get back to Carmalita at around lunch time we get up at 5 am and eat our last provisions – pancakes. Since we are short of drinking water all of us get only one bottle each for the trip which especially annoys Mike who was always drinking at least 2 on the way. We soon realize that the path is dryer and thus much easier to walk than on the first day and so we advance very quickly and have high hopes to reach our destination in much less than 7 hours which we needed on the first day. The only real problem today are the mosquitoes which are really nasty. Thorop has to suffer most of us. After deciding to wear shorts instead of trousers he is constantly followed by a huge bunch of mosquitoes only beaten by the bunch which follows the mules. From behind he reminds me on one of the characters in “Charlie Brown” the guy who is running around with his blanket in his hands and the flies over his head. I have got to smile with that picture in mind :D
We are moving forward very quickly but at one point with loads of mud we have to wait ages for Emanuel. At first we believe that he got stuck with his shoes in the mud since it was very deep and he had only trainers on and believe that Milka went back to get him out with the mule but when they finally arrive Emanuel is walking and we all just wonder why. When carry on walking and 1 hour later we reach Carmelita – our final destination. We are all over the moon when we reach the place and also see that our shuttle is already there and ready to go. We have a chat with the other guys who are just about to leave and give them advice on what to bring and what they are going to see. Later on when we chat with Pilar she explains us why Emanuel didn’t go on the mule and why it took for him so long to cross it. At first this poor guy gets stuck with his trainers as we expected and when Milka come to rescue him with the mule he fells twice down from the back of it. That was the reason why he was walking and we all have a fit of laugher – poor, clumsy baaaastard ;)
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