Welcome to the Jungle
So while most of you were gathered around the Christmas tree opening up presents and snuggling up to a warm fire, I, on the other hand, was trekking through dense jungle, sleeping on the hard ground, using the bathroom wherever it looked safe, battling all kinds of different insects, and praying that we didn’t run out of water….Doesn’t sound like much of a vacation does it?
It all started with an email from a friend of mine. He was looking for other people to hike to El Mirador, a Mayan archaeological site out in the middle of nowhere, in order to lower the cost per person of the trip. Originally, I was going to Honduras with my friend Cecilia to spend Christmas on the beach in a luxurious hotel….quite a 180 don’t you think!
But we couldn’t resist the opportunity to see the largest group of buildings in any single Mayan site, and the biggest pyramid ever build in the Mayan world. So on Christmas Day, Cecilia and I met up with our travel companions in Guatemala City to begin our journey. Before I begin my story then, let me tell you a little bit about my travel companions…
First off, I met Otto, the guy who planted this idea in my head, through my work with CARE. He is Guatemalan and is working on a commercialization project with my women’s weaving groups. As for Cecilia, she is a fellow volunteer and has become one of my best friends here in Guatemala. And finally there’s Ottoniel…a Guatemalan guy that I thought was friends with Otto, but as it turned out, had only just met him online chatting about El Mirador. Evidently, Ottoniel was intent on going whether he knew us or not! It turned out to be a perfect foursome though…2 gringas and 2 chapines.
Lucky for us, Ottoniel had a car (I knew there was a reason why we invited him…ok, only kidding), so the ride from Guatemala City to Flores was an easy 8 hours. (Cecilia and I are not used to riding in a private car…oh how I miss comfortable travel!) Flores is a town in the Petén (a department of Guatemala) that is built on an island in the middle of Lake Itza. It’s also considered the gateway (or really the end of the road) to the Peten’s jungle and all of its archaeological sites, such as Tikal and Yaxha (where Survivor was filmed). From there, we met up with our tour guides who took us the rest of the way, to a cluster of houses called Carmelitas (a 2-hour drive down the worst road ever…if you can even call it a road), where you depart for the hike.
Carmelitas is made up of a handful of families that basically subsist off of tourist treks to El Mirador. Our tour guide and his wife, our cook, typically hike the trail 2 to 3 times a month. Unfortunately, they get paid squat for what they endure. All the local guides work for a cooperative and they ONLY get paid $65 per trip – five days and four nights (about 65 km each way) with absolutely no facilities or amenities aside from what you bring in. Pretty crappy job huh!
So once our backpacks, and enough food and supplies to last a week, were tied down to some unfortunate mules, we were set. We were about to embark on some of the oldest ruins buried within the furthest reaches of the Peten jungle, 7 km south of the Mexican border – ruins that on average only about 1800 visitors see per year! Here we go…
The first day and the last day of hiking were by far the worst. It started out perfectly – like a nice stroll through the forest – and then you find yourself deep into the jungle, and literally knee deep in mud. The hiking is strenuous and dirty for 8 hours straight. The pathetic part of this story is that Cecilia and I actually bought mud boots that came up to our knees….but they were inside of our backpacks that were on the mules that were somewhere behind us. (Needless to say, I was covered in mud by the time we made it to camp.) We became strategic though, not only on where we chose to step but also our pace…we found that if you tried to skitter across the surface of the mud like one of those lizards often featured on television wildlife programs, you didn’t sink as much. And of course, there is no direct path, you are basically just making your own way through the dense jungle, hacking through, searching for the best spots. Our tour guides were amazing though…they ‘seemed’ to know exactly where we were at, where we were headed, and how far we were from camp…who needs GPS when you can have these guys? (Ok, at least that’s what we thought at the time…in other words, keep on reading).
When I think jungle, two things always come to mind: mosquitoes and a hot, humid climate. This was no exception! You could see clouds of mosquitoes surrounding the person that was walking in front of you, sticking to them like bees to honey. I think between Cecilia and I, we went through about three bottles of mosquito spray - it became our daily shower. And the humidity…it was like all the heat was trapped in the foliage and just couldn’t get out to breathe. After soaking in my own sweat, we finally made it to camp for the first night, luckily before dark fell. The agenda for the night was pretty slim – fill our bellies and then bedtime. The meal was surprisingly pretty good considering our surroundings and what the cook had to work with….it helped that I was starving and could have eaten about a hundred tortillas. (Unfortunately, my stomach wasn’t made of steel this particular week – I found out that I am not one that enjoys doing ‘my business’ out in the wild.) Anyways, I scoffed down my meal and then retired to my tent - I was done for the day. However, I woke myself up in the middle of the night needing to release my bladder…but the guide’s stories of the latest jaguar sightings convinced me to wait until morning.
We were up bright and early the next morning, had to make it to camp again by night fall so we couldn’t really dilly dally. I discovered that I had incredible blisters from the day before, so I ended up having to tape my feet up with moleskin to make the walk a little more comfortable. (I had a blister inside of a blister, how gross is that?) So starting out at 7:30 in the morning, we didn’t actually take a break until one of our guides took a fall. She was on one of the mules, and the mule slid down a steep hill of pure mud. She fell off but was dragged down with it. I couldn’t see her because I was already up the hill, but I could hear her screams on the bottom. We thought we were gonna have to turn around and go get help….which wouldn’t have been fast incoming, let me tell ya. (I mean really, if you get hurt out there you’re screwed. There is one single area that has cell service and it’s on top of one of the pyramids at the first campsite…that’s the only communication to the outside world.) Thank god, she ended up being okay, just a little shaken up and a bit sore. But since we had a man down, for some reason or other, I ended up being the ‘guide’ for the next two hours, leading the way through the forest. It was sort of amusing, the two guides behind us, and me deciding to go left or right or this way or that way, with my poor travel companions trusting my decisions. I was glad to relieve my duties after awhile...too much responsibility and unwanted concentration (and naturally, I was catching all the spider webs!)
At last, we stopped for lunch - I ate not one, not two, not three, but FOUR sandwiches! All this walking was giving me a healthy appetite…so much for losing weight. While we were feasting, we watched the howler monkeys playing in the trees overhead, attempting to tune out their annoying wails. Then we heard another sound, a most unpleasant one, a colossal horde of bees. We knew they passed right over our heads but we couldn’t see them. Then our guide calmly informed us that those were the African Killer bees, that they had finally made it to the Petén… you know, the ones that craft an all-out ambush and then keep on stinging until you keel over….just lovely.
Continuing our ramble through the woods, we learned that ‘chicleros’ tend to live in the forest for months at a time harvesting the sap of the sapodilla tree for chewing gum. They cut large gashes in the trunks, creating a channel for the sap to run down the tree and collect in a container at the bottom. Evidently this sap is used as a substitute for natural rubber, but is also the main ingredient in chewing gum.
Getting back to our hike, we FINALLY (gracias a Dios) made it to the entrance of El Mirador. Cecilia and I took pics of each other standing proudly in front of the sign. We had made it! We were completely exhausted, but seeing that sign lifted our spirits. (Little did we know, we had another hour and a half walk into the park!!? So much for thinking we were there…)Fortunately, the walk in was on a decent pebbly path…but poor Otto, one of his shoes fell apart and he basically hobbled the last two hours with barely anything between his foot and the hard rock. Lucky for him, someone had left an old pair of shoes at the camp in El Mirador, so at least he had two good shoes for the way back!
Now, the first thing we noticed when we got to camp was the huge poster about the area’s venomous snakes. Evidently, Guatemala’s jungle is home to the notorious Yellow Beard snake, which injects its venom directly into the victim’s bloodstream. The locals based at the camp were very open about previous accounts of fatal bites. Apparently, unless an antivenin is readily available, the victim doesn’t have a chance. And it just so happened that the week we were there, they had run out of antivenin at the camp…so standard advice was to just watch where you step! (This was also fine advice for avoiding good ole’ ant bites….I guess I planted my foot into an anthill that night because they attacked my ankle and I came away with huge welts that oozed pus for days and days. )
Thus, it was time for bed so that we could get up early and explore the ruins all day! It was hard to hit the sack though, what with the breathtaking stars illuminating the night sky….that’s one good thing about being in the middle of nowhere, there are no street lamps, or house lights, or office glows, just a huge black expanse with little diamonds sparkling in tune. Reminded me of a Lite Brite with a million pegs poked randomly through the black construction paper (remember those when you were a kid?)….
The following day was a slight reprieve…we only had to hike about three miles to see the different clusters of ruins. I even wore flip flops to give my poor feet a break! Our first destination was La Danta; the highest pyramid because it’s built on a rise. Unlike Tikal, most of the pyramids in El Mirador are still hidden under the earth. La Danta supposedly has three distinct platforms, but only the top platform has been uncovered….well, there were huge wooden beams placed along the crown so archaeologists must still be working on this layer. However, the structure is believed to be about three football fields in length. Having almost made it to the top, I noticed a rope swaying in the breeze, calling my name to climb it. I hadn’t walked around the entire base of the structure, so I just assumed the rope was the only way up. So I convinced Cecilia to scale it with me (btw, with flip flops and she’s scared of heights), figuring that if we had made it this far, we couldn’t stop now…we had just walked two whole days to see this for god’s sake! Half-way up, she decides to ask me “and why couldn’t we take the stairs?” Whoops! I had no clue there were stairs…I evidently didn’t hear that part…Hay escaleras?
Pero vale la pena!!!! (aka - It was totally worth it!) The view was simply overwhelming! We were miles up from the tallest treetops. It was like you could reach your hand up and touch the sky. All you could see was forest stretching to the horizon from all directions. You could also see green bumps hovering in the distance, which were other pyramids buried under dense jungle. We took a lot of pictures, even made a video, and enjoyed the tranquility of it all. (FYI, we took the stairs to get down!)
Then we checked out some smaller ruins before getting to the big kahuna for sunset. El Tigre is the highest Mayan temple in the world – it measures 18 stories high and its base covers 18,000 square meters. Surprisingly though, La Danta seems much higher. But El Tigre still affords the same view…it has to be one of the most stunning and unique spots to watch the sun disappear. I also had a lot of fun taking pics of my shadow in the neighboring trees…just take a look at my multiple poses. The descent wasn’t too fun though, I ended up scooting the whole way down on my butt because it was so steep.
Ok, just to give you a little background information, the main archaeologist started working on excavations of El Mirador back in 1979. So he’s been unearthing ruins in the park for almost 30 years…yet there’s still so much that is left hidden. Our tour guide led us to one of the artifacts that he found while piddling around the park one day…the archaeologist pays 1000 quetzals to any guide that makes a new discovery. So our tour guide told us that he goes out on Sundays to search for concealed relics. The archaeologist doesn’t have to hike in and out though…he gets to come and go as he pleases by helicopter. A friend of mine, who visited El Mirador last year, got to fly out with him, bypassing the grueling hike back. Lucky bastard!
To be honest, I managed to block out most of the return trip. It was another two days of walking from sun-up to sun-down, my feet hurt, my legs hurt, I needed a shower, I was wearing dirty, wet clothes, and I was just plain worn out. I no longer had a goal or something to look forward to – I had made it to El Mirador and so the reward was over. I would go through spurts where I felt really good and refreshed, and then others where I just couldn’t walk anymore. The four of us tried to distract our brains from the task at hand by singing songs or playing the question game. But there were occasional spans where I would get into a zone, I couldn’t talk, all I could do was focus on walking. Towards the end, I questioned myself multiple times what the hell was I thinking...
The biggest problems for us on the way back were the ticks! At one point in the trail, we watched as Ottoniel flung his t-shirt off (and did a little dance) because he was covered in them. I, too, glanced down at my arm, and assumed it was just covered in dirt….but they were actually ticks that had already embedded themselves into the skin. Just by turning over a leaf, you could find whole colonies. Poor Cecilia, she was still pulling ticks off her body three days after our trip!
Let’s see – I also got stuck in deep mud on the way back because I lost my balance and fell in – I was covered in clay. It was kind of funny though; I just laid there and laughed. What’s more, I smashed a bee with my hand and the tour guide told me it was an extranjero (which means foreign)….so he couldn’t really give me a straight answer on whether I was gonna be okay. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out when my hand went numb for awhile. We even had to walk through pouring rain for a couple of hours. And to top it all off, we almost ran out of drinkable water! There is no water source in the jungle so what you bring in is all you got. I think our tour guides underestimated what gringos can drink because we were down to our last drops. Two things I learned about Guatemalans are 1) they don’t take many breaks and 2) they don’t drink a lot of water. (I never saw our cook drink one sip of water on the trail. She told us that she doesn’t like to drink water when she hikes because it makes her feel sick.)
Once we got to the stage where we thought we couldn’t go any further, the tour guide told us we had only about thirty minutes left. But a half hour passed, then an hour passed, and we were wondering if the guide was just lying to keep us going. We must have asked him about twenty times, “Are we there yet?” Each time, he’d say, “Oh, about twenty more minutes”. At the time, I wanted to kill him! Upon exiting the forest, we noticed that we came out at a completely different location…so we think we were actually lost for a bit there towards the end. I didn’t even make it all the way to the starting point in town…I saw a nice patch of grass and threw myself down on it. I could barely walk at this point – my feet were covered in blisters and my ankles were both swollen to double their size (and the swelling didn’t go down until three or four days later).
Nevertheless, we finished! We walked 128 kms in four days, 2 days in and 2 days out. No toilets, beds, or cold beverages; the ants, ticks, and mosquitoes were relentless; and stripping down in the wild for one bucket bath with dirty, lagoon water is just not enough. Right now, the only way to reach these ruins is on foot. But just like Tikal, these ruins will someday be marketed. In ten years, there will probably be a highway and airport to accommodate tourism. People won’t have to spend four days in the jungle to get there. That said, this was a journey that I will never forget!
And for my friends that accompanied me on this journey…..just a few last words….Pizza Pizza, Cinco Carnes, con una Coca grande:)
http://www2.snapfish.com/shareereg/p=129221201026775732/l=347995386/g=50536731/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/pns/share/p=129221201026775732/l=347995386/g=50536731/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Will save my Honduras stories for next time!
Hasta luego,
Carin
posted by Carin Robinson @ 6:56 AM
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