Upon entering Guatemala, we checked in with customs and immigration in Livingston. We gave the officials hoards of money for them to stuff in their personal wallets, as is typical of these beaurocratic systems we call governments. We stayed in Livingston for the night and in the morning motored 25 miles up the river, known as the Rio Dulce (meaning Sweet River in spanish). The river narrowed as we entered into a steep walled gorge with a few exposed limestone cliffs. The river was full of Guatemalan men and boys paddling canoes while fishing.
The Rio Dulce in Guatemala
We moored the boat (and are now docked) at a marina near the town of Fronteras. The marina provided us with a safe place to leave the boat, allowing us to explore inland. We decided to visit El Mirador, the first Mayan city ever to be constructed, which holds numerous magnificent temples including the largest ever to have been built (235 feet tall). The ruins of El Mirador date from the early PreClassic period (1500 - 1000BC) but most are from the late PreClassic period when the city flourished (150BC to 150AD). These ruins were not rediscovered until 1926 and very few people have even heard of El Mirador, including the Guatemalans themselves. Fewer still ever visit the ruins due to their remote location.
In the afternoon on Wednesday, March 27th, we took a bus from Fronteras heading north to Santa Elena (outside of Flores). We spent the night in a disgusting hotel in Santa Elena. In the morning we caught a micro (a small bus) to San Andres. On the micro, we met the father of a Guatemalan archeologist. We met the archeologist in San Andres and told him of our desire to find the ruins of El Mirador without a guide. He placed a call to Carmelita, the small town where the trail begins, and spoke with the local who has assisted the archeologists with their work for the last 30 years. From San Andres, we began hitch hiking north on the dirt road to Carmelita. Due to the color of our skin, it was difficult to get a ride. We started walking. Our first hitch was only a few kilometers in which we stood on the back bumper of a pickup truck to the edge of town. Our second hitch was more fruitful, bringing us 30km closer to Carmelita. We rode in the back of a pickup truck with one other hitchhiker, and we picked up a couple more en route. The truck stopped in a small village with a school right beside the road. It being Guatemala, where the school children seem to always be on recess, the place was swarming with kids. Moments later there were forty small children staring at us with large, open eyes of curiosity. They seemed to be fascinated by anything and everything about us. We needed to find something to break the ice and to make them laugh. Sue had the idea of taking a blade of grass, placing it between the first and second joints of both thumbs, and making a whistle that sounds more like a dying duck. Graham was soon making all sorts of loud, funny sounds, and the children were bursting with laughter. They were continually staring at both of us with fascination as we kept making these strange noises. To further the entertainment, Graham started to dance to the tunes, and the children erupted in giggles. Sue asked in Spanish, "May I take your photograph?" They didn't really respond, so Sue whipped out her camera. Immediately, about thirty-five kids turned on their heels, and ran away at full speed, screaming as they went. We hung out and played with the ones who remained and the few who returned, while we waited for cars to pass by this deserted road, as we hoped to find another ride.
School children during their full day "recess"
A logging truck was parked nearby. They spent about 2 hours fixing the breaks; afterwhich, the driver offered us a ride. We road another 10km to the next village in the front cab of the semi. In the next village, we sat and cooked a lunch of peanut curry pasta before catching our fourth and final ride in the back of a pickup truck that took us the remaining 20km to Carmelita. We were dropped off in the center of Carmelita in front of a guide agency offering guided trips with mules to El Mirador. We tried asking directions to the trailhead but quickly realized that it was as fruitless as asking directions from a cab driver, whose sole objective is to make business. The guide agency discouraged us from trying to go on our own and told us we would get lost. However, we still refused their services, as it cost more money than we had brought with us, but more importantly it went against our style and prefered method of travel. The gentleman, Brijido Perez, in Carmelita who had received a phone call from the archeologist was awaiting our arrival. He saw us at the guide agency and came over to introduce himself. He suggested that we go to his place and spend the night. Once at his place, we discussed with him the logistics of hiking in alone. The entire trail to El Mirador is about 60km and passes by many other ruins, including two former Mayan settlements, called La Florida and El Tintal. He agreed that we would be able to follow the trail on our own, but suggested that we hire a local to show us the way to La Florida (about 10km) as the trail had numerous branches. From there we would hike on our own. He introduced us to his friend, Jose Luis, who agreed to walk us to La Florida in the morning.
Graham, Sue and Brijido
At 6am on Friday, March 29th, we met Jose Luis and began our hike. The trail to El Mirador was fairly flat with only a few hills. The difficulty lay in the condition of the trail. It was filled with numerous, deep mule tracks formed in the wet season. It now being the dry season, the broken up ground had hardened and provided very difficult and painful walking. By the end of the trail, it felt as if someone had taken a meat tenderizer and had repeatedly pounded it on the underside of our feet.
following the mule tracks
The tropical forest through which we walked was filled with plants and wildlife. Most of the locals in the area, including our guide, Jose Luis, earn their living by collecting the green, leafy fronds of the xate plant, which is exported to the US and Europe for the greenery in flower arrangements. None of the xate collectors we met knew what the plant was used for, and the man who purched it from them either refused to tell them its use or did not know himself. The xate collectors earn about 25 cents for collecting 70 fronds, which must be in perfect condition. Many xate collectors also harvest the sap of the sapodilla tree, which is used to produce chicle, an ingredient in chewing gum.
Upon reaching La Florida, we said goodbye to Jose Luis. We met the vigilantes, or caretakers, that watched over the ruins of La Florida, protecting them from looting. To our surprise, we learned it is also part of their job to ensure that hikers do not get lost in the forest. A vigilante, named Jesus, decided to accompany us on the next leg of the trip (about 14km) to El Tintal. We reached El Tintal in the early afternoon, which gave us time to rest and to explore its ruins. The ruins of El Tintal have not yet been excavated, so we mostly looked at mounds of earth covered with trees and other foliage. However, we did see many trenches dug by looters into the sides of numerous tombs. We also hiked to the top of the main pyramid and from there we could see El Mirador in the distance.
We hung out with the vigilantes at El Tintal, who provided us with rain water to drink, and we spent the night in our tent under a thatched roof structure. Jesus asked us if we would like him to accompany us to El Mirador, but we declined his kind offer. In the morning, we set off alone to El Mirador. We were given general directions to stay to the right if we came to an intersection; although, on two occassions our instincts told us to stay left, which turned out to be the correct route. Most of the trail followed an old Mayan road, which due to the thick vegetation and overlying dirt was difficult to notice. The road bed rose up about four feet high and was approximately fifty to sixty feet wide. After about 8 hours of hiking, we reached the entrance to the National Park in which El Mirador is located. It was here that we saw our first excavated Mayan ruins, which dated to the early preClassic period. These ruins, known as El Grupo La Muerta (aka the Death Group), consisted of a pyramid temple beside a former stone residence. We were able to crawl inside the residence and see the interior sleeping quarters.
the residence of El Grupo La Muerta
Map of El Mirador
Part of the thrill and experience of seeing El Mirador lies in the beauty of its natural surroundings. El Mirador is situated within the center of the largest tropical forest in all of Central America. It is so remote that, since the evacuation of the Mayans, it has been virtually untouched by mankind. The forest is filled with wildlife. Neither of us had ever seen so many monkeys. They were everywhere. We saw spider monkeys, which travel in large groups and are extremely quick, agile and always moving about, crashing around in the trees up above. We also saw howler monkeys, which are named after the loud growling sounds they make. We were warned not to stand directly below them, because the mischievious howler monkeys will throw sticks at you and try to pee on you. We also saw numerous birds, including a pair of toucans, as well as spiders and snakes. We also saw a few coatis up in the trees. These strange animals look like a cross between a fox and a racoon. Unfortunately, despite the wildness of the forest, it is threatened on its outskirts by illegal logging, slash and burn agriculture techniques and poaching. In the last 10 year, both spider and howler monkey populations have declined by 20%. We hope that recent efforts by the Guatemalan government will help to preserve and protect this amazing area.
Un Mico (A Spider Monkey)
Un Saraguate (A Howler Monkey)
A Loco Arriba Monkey
Unfortunately some of the wildlife we encountered on the journey was not so pleasurable. The forest is also filled with near microscopic-sized ticks. Graham unknowingly sat in a nest of them while wearing shorts. The next morning Graham had about 150 to 200 of these tiny creatures clinging to his body. We won't go into the details but they were in some of the worst places imaginable. Fortunately, the ticks in Guatemala do not carry diseases, as deer ticks in the US do. After two days exploring El Mirador, it was time to head out. We spent one long day hiking from El Mirador to La Florida, where we camped for the night. Along the way, vigilantes had been supplying us with rain water to drink. To our dismay, we discovered that the vigilantes in La Florida did not collect rain water but instead drank from a manky swamp. The hue of the swamp water would remind one of an expensive powdered greens drink one might find at a health foods store. But...it was not. It was swamp water, and we drank it (after bleaching it for 30 minutes and boiling it, of course!) The return home was uneventful, except for our micro ride, during which the driver had to stop ever 5 minutes to reinflate the front tire with a bicycle pump.
Our swampy drinking water
All in all the trip was not for the faint of heart. The reward was a great insight into the Mayan way of life. March 2008