By Sunday 25th, I was back in Flores and with one of my ARCAS compatriots, Jane, plus 3 other guys who all wanted to do the 5 day trip to El Mirador, or die trying!
Team Mirador: left to right, me, Jane, Peter, Rens, Tom, Garrett, Claude and Chato
To explain, El Mirador is one of the largest Mayan cities discovered, and has the largest temple, in the world, bar none. It is only very slightly excavated and restored, and is as close as you can come to walking through an undiscovered Mayan city lost in the jungle. It is also re-writing some Mayan history - it reached it's zenith during Pre-Classic times, and obtained a level of sophistication that was previously thought not to exist until the Classic era with cities like Palenque and Tikal.
The big thing about Mirador, however, is the getting there. It exists in the low-lying Mirador basin, 64km from the nearest dirt track. The paths there are well trodden by mules and people but nothing else, and for many kilometre long stretches these are nothing but mud - thick, cloying, suck-your-boot-off mud, or very deep, watery mud. Imagine 2 days walking in thing wellington boots, covering 30km-plus each day, mostly in mud, in 80-90º heat with a constant cloud of mosquitos and sand-flies awaiting just the briefest pause (and sometimes not even that), and you being to get the idea. It is hard, not just a bit but very, very hard.
Originally a team of 3 - myself, Jane and a Dutchman called Rens who was looking to go - we ended up with 4 others - Garrett and Peter who were recruited by Rens in Poptún, plus Tom and Claude, a couple of guys who we didn't realise were even coming until the morning we left. On top of that there was our guide - Alex, 19 years old, very knowledgable and with a .357 Magnum stuck perpetually in his belt, plus our two muleteers, Daniel and Chato. That made 10 plus 5 pack mules and 2 for riding (one reserved for us gringos in case of emergencies of just exhaustion).
Camp at the first night
I'll just show you the photos. For me, day 2 was probably the worst - a neverending 33km of mud, slippery rock, thorn trees, mosquitos. And jungle... the most fabulous jungle.
Garrett and Daniel, very tired at lunch on day 2
The restoration workers at El Mirador (plus a few gringos)
The team on top of La Danta, the highest temple anywhere.
On top of La Danta, wearing my clean trousers.
Inside a Mayan tomb underneath a temple, day 4
Yours truly at the finish (and just about dead)
Back where we started - the team at the finish
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