Day 1 - Originally, this trip was to be for my group of nine people and we had been planning it for the past one and a half years. The person who arranged everything for us (Walfre Chi), however, added four more people to our group without notifying me of it at all and did so at the last minute. There were now thirteen tourists in our group. This is a huge amount of people for a jungle trip such as this, but thankfully, the others who joined our group were very nice and ended up being a wonderful addition. The original nine members included: Greg Brink, Mariah Brink, Sean Murray, Hallie Murray, Ray Penzimer, Tony Dixon, Skip Caldwell, Scott Turner, and I. The additional four members were two Canadians; Scott MacCormack & Daniel Wiseman and two French; David and Sarah. After eating a hearty breakfast at Cafe Yaxha in Flores, we departed for Carmelita in three 4x4 trucks. Normally, a person can simply go there by bus, car or minivan. This time, however, the roads were in terrible shape due to recent rain in the area and it was necessary to use 4x4 trucks to go to Carmelita.
The problem was three or four large mud holes in the road between the crossroads of Dos Aguadas and the village of Carmelita. They were very deep and there was no way a normal vehicle could go through them without getting stuck or damaging the under carriage of the vehicle. I was told about one minivan that tried to make it through one of the mud holes and in the process the gas tank underneath the minivan was damaged while it was stuck for over three hours. Our high-clearance trucks had no problems with these mud holes, though. Walfre's truck did not cost any extra, since he already had to drive to Carmelita that morning for bringing in more food for our trip. The additional two trucks cost Q3,000 total for round trip.
After signing in at the CONAP station just before the village of Carmelita and packing all of our duffel bags into burlap sacks to be draped over the back of our pack mules, we met with our guide; Juan Perez, who was an extremely knowledgeable guide and also had a 'carnet'. A carnet is a certification badge that a guide must have to guide trips into the Mirador Basin these days and can only be obtained by people who are certified through the Carmelita Guide Association and who also live in the village of Carmelita. This does away with the 'outsiders' who once guided trips in the Mirador Basin as well. We left Carmelita by foot and had two riding mules with us as well, in case someone needed to use them along the way. Additionally, since our group was so large, Juan had an assistant; Jose Marroquin. There were two arrieros for taking care of the mules as needed and also two cooks, too. Normally, those who do the 6-day version of the trip do so in clockwise order. My trip, however, would be different. I had previously planned for my group to do the trip in reverse order (counter-clockwise). This would have us go to La Florida first and then to Wakna and Nakbe from there. This plan would later be appreciated by all in the group for already getting the longest hiking day out of the way early in the trip, instead of on the fifth day as usual.
We hiked for three hours and stopped at a large aguada along the way to take a break and eat ham & cheese sandwiches for a late lunch. Thirty minutes later, we met two chicleros who were taking bricks of chicle back to Carmelita to sell. They kindly took one of the bricks off of the back of one of the mules and showed it to us. A little further down the trail was a plaza and structure of the Maya ruins of La Florida. We took a few minutes to explore the structures and to see a large ceiba tree nearby. Once arriving to the campsite, there was still a lot of daylight left for allowing the group to do a little bit of exploring while the cooks were preparing our dinner for the evening. Some in the group played hacky-sack in a clearing while the hammocks were being set up as needed. I had not seen anyone play that in around 25 years, either. Juan showed a few of us in the group the tools used to process chicle and also showed us some xaté leaves that are used for making floral decorations with. Additionally, he showed us some ceramics that are kept at the campsite. After dark, some in our group were taking photos of a tarantula. Dinner on this evening would be the best during the trip and it consisted of fried chicken, rice, and tortillas. Those cooks really knew how to prepare fried chicken very well, too. Some of us in the group had trouble sleeping on the first night and the loss of sleep would make a difference the following day, too.
Day 2 - (The Death March) Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, refried beans and tortillas with coffee. Once we got everything packed up, we hiked or rode mules for ten and a half hours total on this day. After four and a half hours of hiking, my back and feet just could not take it anymore. I requested that the others in our group go onward for the side trip to visit the Maya ruins of Wakna while I rested my back by laying on the ground at the chiclero campsite of El Guiro. Small ants were crawling on me but at the time, I really did not care. I also took seven ibuprofen to ease the pain in my back. While resting in the chiclero campsite, I also ate two ham & cheese sandwiches and re-filled my water bottle as I waited for the others to arrive. From there, I rode one of the mules called El Diablo (the devil in English). This mule carried me for the next four hours and did so with ease. To my astonishment, it never even breathed hard, either.
Along the way, the guide's assistant; Jose Marroquin, had to cut numerous fallen trees that were blocking the trail overhead with his machete. The mule would take advantage of any opportunity where we stopped, for eating some of the vegetation on the side of the trail. On one occasion, the mule turned quickly which caused the saddle to shift to one side really hard. This resulted in me falling to the ground, too. I had a great time talking with Jose as we traveled and I found out that he is also works as a security guard at the Maya ruins of Rio Azul. Most of the people in our group took turns riding the other mule, and as they did so, I got to talk with them as well. After riding the mule for more than four hours, I decided I would be better walking, as my rear was numb. I walked for the last hour as we all arrived together to the campsite of the Maya ruins of Nakbe. Everyone in the group was extremely pleased to arrive there after such a long hike. Considering one in our group was keeping up with the distance by GPS, I figured we had traveled between twenty two and twenty four miles on this day. This was quite a feat, even for someone who was in shape. We were treated to a couple of black howler monkeys' howls as they were located in a tree just above our hammocks in the campsite.
Before departing on this trip, we had paid Q1580 for thirty gallons of purified shower water and three mules to carry it along the way as needed. Walfre told me to my face that the water was staged at Nakbe and El Mirador and that we could use this water to take showers with as needed once we arrived to both campsites. I asked Juan about the shower water and he had no idea what I was talking about. After I told him how much we had paid for the water and mules, he simply laughed. Afterwards, though, he showed sympathy and told me we could use five gallons of rain water at Nakbe and then could use whatever we wanted at El Mirador. This was very nice of him and everyone in my group appreciated it, greatly. Dinner consisted of spaghetti and tortillas with punch. Tony Dixon and I had brought along some summer sausage and smoked sausage that we added to the community fare. These were sliced up, fried, and went well with the spaghetti. This made the meal much better in my opinion. Everyone in my original group of nine took a shower and then (those that had them) tended to the blisters on their feet. I also found out that a green caterpillar had fallen from a tree onto Mariah as she lay in her hammock. This caterpillar ended up stinging her on the leg and she said it was quite painful, too. The entire camp went to sleep early that night.
Day 3 - Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, refried beans and tortillas with coffee. Everyone in the group visited the Maya ruins of Nakbe and it turned out to be a very nice site to explore. The coolest thing, in my opinion, was the remnants of an ancient limestone quarry at the site. Also, there was a really neat chultun at the site and most of those in our group went down into it to see what it was like. A couple of the others and I waited for them at the surface. Once back at the campsite, we ate some watermelon and were prepared to depart for El Mirador. Before leaving, though, several people with CONAP arrived to the campsite from El Mirador. They were guided by the head of the cooperativa; Antonio Centeno as well as Elder (last name?) who is the head of CONAP. Accompanying them was a film crew and they wanted to interview me for an advertisement that would be broadcasted across Guatemala and would advertise for trips to the Mirador Basin. Thankfully, the guy who interviewed me spoke very good English and only asked me simple questions during the interview. After four hours of hiking we arrived to the campsite of El Mirador. I was glad, too. I knew that we would be camping for two nights at El Mirador, so could enjoy life a little more, knowing that we would not have to pack up and leave the following morning as usual everyday.
After setting up camp, most people in our group went to enjoy the sunset from the top of El Tigre pyramid. While on top of El Tigre pyramid, they were fortunate to be able to see two toucans perched in a tree nearby, above the jungle canopy. I was not one of those people, however, since I had already experienced that on my previous trip to El Mirador in 2010. Back at the camp, Hallie or Sean Murray took some great photos of a large wolf spider. Sean brought along a frisbee and he and some others threw it across the soccer field to pass the time. The others sat around and enjoyed some coffee made from ground coffee beans brought from Lake Atitlan by Skip Caldwell and by using some hot water with his French press. I talked with Jose Marroquin, Nestor Marroquin and Juan, and in the process, found out that we would be missing Richard Hansen by a single day as he was scheduled to arrive to El Mirador the two days later by helicopter. Dinner on this evening consisted of boiled zucchini, refried beans and tortillas. It was pretty good, too. I shared some bags of tea that I had brought along for the trip. I had a large variety of flavors, too. The food and drinks that are offered by the guides on this trip are very basic, so anything you can bring along that doesn't require much room in your bags can make a huge difference.
Day 4 - I was delighted to have pancakes for breakfast this morning as they were a nice change from the normal and typical Guatemalan breakfast of scrambled eggs, refried beans and tortillas with coffee. We were also offered a delicious drink made of oatmeal served in a coffee mug. I forget what they called it, though. Everyone in the group explored El Mirador on this day and the first place we visited was the great pyramid of La Danta. I had leaned on a small tree along the way, resulting in me getting stung on my left hand by a fire ant that was coming down the tree. It was very painful, too. The walk to the La Danta Complex was very nice and we saw some spider monkeys along the way. While everyone in the group was taking in the view from the top of the La Danta Pyramid, Juan had stayed at the ground level to slice up two pineapples for us to snack on. The pineapple was very good and appreciated by all.
After visiting La Danta, we went onward to visit the famous Popol Vuh Frieze and the Cascabel Group. By now it was time for lunch. This consisted of vegetable soup, rice and tortillas with punch. Since Skip and I had previously visited El Mirador on a previous trip, we decided to stay around camp while the others in the group explored the site more in the afternoon. I took a nap and afterwards, decided to take some photos of the animals around camp. I was fortunate to see some white-fronted parrots, spider monkeys and some sort of very pretty falcon or hawk. The others in the group saw Structure 34 and then the sunset from the top of El Tigre Pyramid again. Afterwards, we all ate dinner and it consisted of sliced wiskill (sp?) dipped in whipped eggs and then fried, rice and tortillas with punch. Ray Penzimer brought along a package of buffalo chicken that only required the addition of hot water for making it ready to eat. Those in our group added some of this to their wiskill-filled tortillas and it was very good, too. It didn't even taste like it came from a freeze-dried package, either.
Day 5 - Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, refried beans and tortillas with coffee.....again. We hiked for seven hours on this day, and along the way, stopped to visit the small complex called "La Muerta". During one of the breaks we took, at the archaeological campsite of Paradiso, we had a variety of different sandwiches, consisting of tuna, ham & cheese and peanut butter with honey. Once arriving to the campsite of El Tintal, we were offered punch made from oranges that came off of some trees nearby. It was very delicious, too! We rested and met with other people arriving to the campsite from Carmelita. One group consisted of three Canadians and another consisted of only one Polish man. I felt good knowing we were on our way out and would be back to civilization the next day. The others were just starting their trip. I did not feel sorry for them, though. They were just starting an incredible adventure, even if it's extremely a demanding trip and not for the weary of heart.
I noticed there was a frail-looking man who spoke excellent English in the camp and that was with the Canadians as their translator, since they did not know any Spanish. The man was Guatemalan, too. After I asked what his first name was, which was very unique, I immediately asked him if he was a naturalist guide for Tikal as well. He confirmed my suspicion. It was Axuan Shankara, a man who I hired as a naturalist guide on my very first trip to Tikal back in November 2005. This made my entire trip to have run into him once again and of all places to do so, the campsite of the Maya ruins of El Tintal. I told him that his first name was Mayan for John. He looked at me in shock and asked me how I knew that. I simply told him that he himself was the one who taught me that many years before. It was great talking with him about how his life had been since I last saw him and to once again have his contact information.
Some in the group went to watch the sunset from the top of the main structure nearby. I stayed in the campsite to talk more with Axuan. For dinner on this evening we had spaghetti again, and since I still had another stick of summer sausage in my duffel bag, I offered it to the cooks to dice up for putting in with the sauce as well as adding three packages of white chicken brought along by Mariah Brink. The additional protein makes a huge difference, so a person can't bring too much for adding to the community fare during meals. The cooks had also prepared some home-made allspice tea from the leaves of a tree near the campsite. This was served hot and was very delicious, too.
Day 6 - Guess what we had for breakfast on this morning. Again. And thankfully for the last time in a good while, too. Once everyone in my group had signed the camp log book, I counted one hundred forty tourist entries in the book for the month so far (on the 24th). Our guide took us through part of the ruins of El Tintal before departing for the village of Carmelita. Two hours into the hike we stopped to take a break at the chiclero camp of Huacute. While there, we saw a beautiful woodpecker of which we took photos of. The hike normally takes around five hours, but it took our group closer to six hours. I was struggling to walk the remainder of the distance, but thankfully, did so with the others.
Everyone in the group was extremely happy to arrive back to Carmelita. We had just hiked and rode mules for eighty one miles (give or take about five miles) in the past six days. Our pre-arranged drivers and three 4x4 trucks were there waiting for us. It was good to have something cold to drink from comedor y hospedaje Pepetoño after being in the jungle for so many days and having to drink nothing but drinks at ambient temperature, too. After I took up a collection from those in my group for tipping the workers as needed, I gave each worker a Q200 tip, with the exception of Jose Marroquin. He got his share just like everyone else did, but I gave him an additional Q200 out of my pocket and did so out of appreciation for how much he helped me during the strenuous trip. A few hours later we were all back in Flores enjoying air conditioned rooms and some great food at Cafe Yaxha. It had been an amazing trip with some old friends, as well as new. The following day Scott and I were fortunate enough to see a wonderful parade and go to the nearby orphanage to see the girls who live there. Later, I got to talk with Guatemalan architect; Oscar Quintana and Mexican archaeologist; Juan Antonio Siller while having dinner at Cafe Yaxha.
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