El Mirador Part 1

Hola Kiddies,

It has been too long since our last blog post. My gosh, we've been through two countries and are heading into Mexico next week marking the last country we visit until returning stateside. WOW. Joy said it best the other day "I'm not ready for our trip to end!" Couldn't agree more.

However, it's not done yet, and we still have more than 30 days left on the road. Whoo hoo!

Hands down, one of the coolest experiences we've had yet on this trip was our hike to El Mirador in the northern rainforest of the Peten territory of Guatemala to a colassal grouping of ancient mayan ruins. Collectively, 4 or 5 ruin sites make up the Mirador basin and archelogists believe that this grouping of cities date back to more than 1000 BC, predating other Mayan ruin sites in Guatemala by 1200 years.

The logistics of our trek were pretty simple, 12 people, 1 guide, 1 cook, 1 assistant, 1 mule handler, 8 mules, 135 km, 5 nights and about 40 plus hours of hiking. It as when supplies (food, water) dwindled, blisters bled, ticks swarmed, alcohol and cigarettes ran out that elements tested our patience, our friendships, the trust in our guides and our marriage....just kidding about the marriage part.

Our first day out was painless, we hiked 6 hours to our first camp in Tintal, and OUR mule lugged a couple of our backpacks, extra water and alcohol sack. (A couple bottles of rum for us and a couple bottles for the guards at El Mirador.) Oh yes, that's right folks, Joy, Bjornar, Hege (norwegian buddies) and I purchased a mule for the 6 day trek. It was the best $20 we've spent on the whole trip. We named him Yelmar (norwegian name of Bjornar's dog), and he would prove to be the most inteligent animal (human or otherwise) upon arrival into Carmelita 6 days later. Tintal is a grouping of ruins about 30km south of El Mirador and marks the beginning of an ancient causeway or highway in between the two cities. Raul (our guide) explained that this causeway was one of the first highways of the world, and more than 3000 years ago would have been bleached white, with painted red sides, engraved with stone carvings and in some cases more than 40 meters wide. No small engineering task for a people without the wheel or beasts of burden to assist in its construction. We would be walking it again in our trek to El Mirador. Everybody was excited. We watched the sun set from the King's temple about 60 meters above the rainforest and ate a meal of homemade tortillas, fried chicken and cabage.

We woke up the next morning to catch the sunrise from the top of Tintal. The sunrise was goregeous and a welcome respite from the previous nights' "sleep." I was counting down the hours until 4:30 am when I could get out of "bed." Our tents had been set up on a concrete slab in the campsite, under shelter in case of rain, and every bone in our boddies felt bruised. Further our little ovens...err tents...were made for kindergartners, so even squeezing our two narrow bodies inside was tricky. And with a daytime tempature approaching 90 degrees the nighttime was still toasty. Joy and I now know exactly what it would be like to sleep on the street. Everyone took in good fun, and, in fact, our other camping mates (4 boys and 4 girls) had it slightly worse. Instead of 2 to a tent, they had 4 to a tent. Two of the other guys were 6 feet plus and slept with their heads out the tent flap only to rise with bugs and bug bites upon their foreheads.

Ready for an early start, we departed Tintal at 7 am. Hege, Bjornar, Joy and I said "good morning" to Yelmar and fed him a morning snack of fruits and scattered Ramon tree leaves. (his favorite) Raul explained we'd arrive at El Mirador at 3'30, but we all suspected that meant more like 4. Not a problem! The jungle was alive, and we all felt like we on the first expedition to an unexplored piece of the jungle with secrets of a lost civilation buried beneath. Walking the first highway of the Americas, we made good time to our second camp. There was also rumor of a bush shower available at the Mirador campsite for 10 quetzals (about $1 dollar), and after 2 days without water on the body in 90 degree heat that shower was enough to send most of us striding through the jungle at a steady clip.

The shower was amazing and as advertised, PLUS the guards were super psyched that we purchased a bottle of Queztalteca Rum, a biting, clear rum that many locals and expats enjoy to excess. We made camp and Raul got us "matresses" from the guards at Mirador for the second night. They were little more than pieces of foam from the storage barn of the main El Mirador campsite, but after the concrete we contemplated leaves, sticks and mule crap as other alternatives. The foam was great, the sunset from the Queen's temple at Mirador was a beautiful red, orange dripping down on the green jungle and the stars that night were as bright as I've ever seen. Showered and foamed we were ready for our day of exploration at Mirador.

The morning was cloudy, so we skipped the sunrise, but soon after waking and eating breakfast that sweaty orb broke through. No hiking today just a series of shortish walks to each of the Mirador excavation sites now under way. There is a great National Geographic special on El Mirador that I encourage everyone to watch. I'll hit some the highlights. The Danta Temple of El Mirador is said to be the largest pyramid in the world in terms of volume (bigger than Egypt, yes) and still stands at an impressive height of 74 meters. The main man in charge of the site is Richard "Dick" Hansen, lead consultant on Mad Mel's Apocolypto. He's been at the site since '78, excavation has been ongoing in earnest the past 7 years and only 4% of the site has been uncovered. Most still lies beneath a THICK growth of rainforest and no one knows what artistry, carvings, masks, etc. they will find as more temples are untucked from their forest blankets. The grand plaza between the Queen's Temple and King's Temple is also the largest in the world at more than 2km across. The forest bristles with life here as it makes up the largest swath of continuous rainforest in all of central america. Pressued on all sides by logging and farming, yes, but the area is still a huge sea of green with spider and howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguar, tapir, deer, snakes, lizards, aguti, coatamundi and much more all protected by environmental leaders in Guatemala and the States. From 200 plus feet, looking at the expanse of rainforest from the top of perhaps the largest pyramid designed by one of the great ancient civilations was mindblowing. We were archeologists for a day and loved every second of it.

Time is up on the computer...to be continued...as I'll detail our long walk back to civilation and the strain that a depeltion of goods and services have on those without a sturdy pack mule and their own supplies. haha.

Hasta Luego,
CP ^ JP