Get ready, this will be a long one, but it will cover ten days of travels, adventures and holidays.
On Friday Nic and I traveled into Guatemala City to catch our bus across the country to Flores. Upon arrival we found that the company did not have our reservations (after making them two weeks in advance and confirming them two days earlier. This is so typical of Guatemala) and all the buses to Flores that night were full. The woman at the desk was nice enough to call another company who did have space, however. We boarded that bus at 11 p.m. and after traveling through the night, ran out of gas at 5:30 a.m. Mind you, this is a professional bussing company, similar to Alamo. Fortunately for us we were in a city and were able to get gas and be back on the road in about a half hour's time.
Flores is a charming little town located on a small island (it takes about 20 minutes to walk across) in the middle of Lake Peten Itza.
It doesn't feel as much like Guatemala as a mix of Caribbean and Colonial design.
Lots of bright colors.
The weekend we were there was Palm Sunday and the start of Semana Santa, Holy Week, a huge event in Central America.
Sunset over the lake.
Leaving Flores on Sunday we traveled three hours on a dirt road North to the town of Carmelita. This is the kick off point to hike El Mirador. Even though two out of those three hours we were on a "protected" bio-reserve, we saw extensive logging along with slashing and burning to make room for cattle grazing.
Carmelita is exactly what one might think of when one thinks of a jungle village.
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We set off hiking on Monday morning and after covering 6 miles arrived at Tintal, one of the many ruins in the area. The camp is well established as it's a working archeological area.
Carlos, our trusty guide who is from Carmelita and has worked in/around El Mirador for more than 20 years. He even claims to have discovered another set of ruins called Nakbe that were another day's walk from El Mirador.
From left: Jim, Sara, Nic, Alana, Charlotte, Anne and Emily.
We hiked to the larger pyramid at Tintal for sunset.
The lump is the other pyramid at this site. The view was incredible...a blanket of green in all directions as far as one can see. Carlos pointed out small bumps barely visible on the horizon; one was El Mirador and the others were more pyramids in Mexico. They looked so far away.
The next morning we rose early to beat the heat. After 9 miles we arrived at the ancient city of El Mirador. As soon as we entered the site, it was as if there were treasures to be found down every path. This is a "mascaron", a big mask, about the same height as me, in front of a smaller temple. The designs to the right have been restored, but the original red paint is still visible through the light plaster.
Atop another pyramid for susnet. El Tigre is the second largest pyramid at El Mirador. The Pyramids were named for their size in correlation to the size of jungle animals; the largest is "la danta", the tapir, then "el tigre" and lastly "los monos", the monkeys.
La Danta.
Sunset.
Another "mascaron" at another building. There are some 24 mascarons at El Mirador.
This was my favorite part of the whole park. A large relief depicting the Mayan creation myth.
A smiling face.
A mythical creature.
The creation myth involves a set of twins who had to travel to the underworld and who eventually are placed in heaven as the moon and sun. This is one of the twins.
Amazing trees everywhere.
A beautiful moss.
Designer roots.
I just couldn't see a vine and not swing on it.
The info plaque at the base of the La Danta Complex. The base of this complex is the size of 17 football fields.
The top of La Danta, some 72 meters (nearly 250 feet). La Danta is not only the tallest pyramid the Maya ever constructed, it is estimated to have more mass the largest pyramid in Egypt, technically making it the largest in the world. It was constructed in 300 b.c.
A side temple.
Our guide informed us that the stones were cut using obsidian, but the nearest volcanoes are on the other side of the country.
The steep steps up and the side temple.
And the sprawling view from the top. The bump is the pyramid "El Tigre". Just in front of El Tigre there is a small pink flowering tree. This tree's bark is boiled into a tea and used to treat malaria.
Impressive.
Along with lots of ruins we also encountered lots of wildlife. Monkey were abundant. In the day we saw spider monkeys. They would crash through the trees all around us, drop sticks or unripened fruit on us from above. The best is when they brace themselves between two branches and shake vigorously in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate us. One morning Nic barely escaped being urinated on by one. At night, however the howler monkeys ruled the jungle. Their cries are incredible; laying in my tent in the warm night listening to their calls made me feel like I could have been camping in Jurassic Park listening to dinosaur calls. One night they were very near our camp and the volume of the calls drowned all other sounds. It was one of my favorite experiences on the trip.
Along with monkeys the park is home to these amazingly painted jungle turkeys. Also on the trail we saw a few jungle fox, a jungle squirrel and Anne nearly stepped on the most poisoness snake in the jungle, "barba amarilla", yellow beard.
Walking up the smallest of the major temples, "Los Monos" for our last sunset in the park. This is what all the temples looked like, completely unexcavated.
Sunset and La Danta.
"La Muerta", The Dead Woman, are the last ruins as you leave the park.
Yes, one can crawl inside. And yes, I did.
After entering the first chamber, hook a left through this crawl space into a larger chamber that was tall and narrow and home to a few jungle bats. We all made it out of the jungle without a hang up and even without too many bug bites.
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After a rightly deserved shower and dinner we watched processions pass through the streets on Flores. It was now Good Friday and the processions were solemn. The photo is blurry, but the men who lead the procession swinging incense wear black robes with skulls on the dunce hats. I asked a local what the skull represented but he didn't know.
Mother Mary is at the feet of Jesus after they have taken him down from the cross.
The people are silent and the music is gloomy and dramatic.
Another beautiful sunset over lake Peten Itza. Our bus back to Guatemala City left at 4 a.m. on Saturday. I had stated to feel stomach pain ever so slightly on Thursday afternoon but by Saturday, I was full-on sick. Thanks to Nic I had a window seat (and the window even opened!) which helped, but I knew it would be a difficult ride. By 8 I was pleading for Pepto or Imodium for survival. My stomach went in and out of cramping on the 10 hours as we crossed the country through the heat of the day. It seemed the bus driver stopped to pick up every person by the side of the road, even though it was a charter bus and even when we thought no one else would fit in the aisles. I had to stick my head out the window when the ladies came on selling fried chicken because the smell nauseated me so severely. The Imodium held for just the right amount of time. I can honestly say it was the worse bus ride of my life. But once in Antigua and in our hotel room I was able to relax and keep near a bathroom.
Easter Sunday morning was quiet. Nic and I got up and dressed, preparing for mass. When we walked around town the churches were still shut. We heard from folks who were in Antigua last year that Easter is actually the most quite day of Semana Santa. We carried on and had a nice breakfast with friends. Later that afternoon, however, the processions started. Except these ones were different. In front were men, women and children dressed as Hebrews, singing and dancing, playing tambourines, flutes and horns, laughing. Everyone walking with the procession waved yellow and white flags, said to represent the glory of Christ's resurrection.
Here Jesus is alive and blessing a priest.
The music was happy, almost carnival like. And, keeping with the carnival theme, vendors selling cheap toys bring up the rear of the procession.
