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El Mirador
Nov. 17th, 2003 04:20 pmJust returned from the 5-day hike (though i did it in 4 - and that was a mistake) through the Peten jungle to El Mirador - probably the most remote Mayan ruins of Guatemala; and the highest Mayan structures at all. The guidebook (LP) only says the place is impossible to reach on your own basing on strikingly idiotic myths of hardships; for example, "lack of water" - in the middle of rainforest! Well, it's a sad fact, but fact it is - LP sucks! So much for the golden days of the "Yellow Bible", the only suitable guide for a real traveler - now the book is oriented towards the wealthy hang-outers, just like all the other ones.
As a matter of fact, after an hour of walking i was wishing this bullshit about lack of water had been true - instead, for the first three hours the trail kept crossing bogs, and mud and water were normally about knee-deep. Later it got easier, than even nice - with all those birds (incl. some toucans, for example) and monkeys around. I spent the first night in a campamento de chicleros (campamento is a camp, chicleros are guys who collect chicle. Chicle is a kind of tree sap that's shipped to Japan to make 100% natural chewing gum, which is 10 times more expensive, 5 times more unhealthy and 20 time worse for the environment than the usual artificial one - so, obviously, they pay well for it).
The next day was spent in the same fashion, and by the end of it i was there. Took me about 14,5 hours of hiking altogether.
El Mirador itself is a place to sense rather than see; some of the pilots who regularly fly over it, making the crossing into Mexico, have to be convinced those hills are actually overgrown temples, for all of them except one look just like huge pyramidal mounds totally covered with trees, lianas and - only near the top - stones that, if you search hard, you might still find following a certain pattern. The city - it was a big one - now belongs to howler monkeys. So be it.
(By the way - suppose we take Moscow... Or St. Petersburg... I'd rather use Tel-Aviv for the experiment, but it wouldn't make a nice ruin - once abandoned, it would just slowly transform into a pile of shit.)
One full day there, and the whole journey back in a single day - must have not been a good idea, but i was so anxious to get some hot food, take a (bucket) shower and sleep in a bed i voted pro. Since the only voice was mine, i won.
Well, it wasn't easy. There're lots of trails there, and though all eventually lead to Carmelita (my destination), some are longer, some are muddier and some are simply submerged. I must have chosen the wrongest one, and, having started with sunrise, arrived to the village slightly after dark. 12,5 hours non-stop hiking, fast when possible, loud otherwise.
The next day was dedicated to washing off all this mud, pulling ticks from under my armpits, trying to persuade my legs to work and hitching - hitching was the easiest part.
Now, the big question is: am i fed up? For there're cave paintings at Rio Azul, unique of their kind, but it takes 2 to 3 days (each way) to walk there...
As a matter of fact, after an hour of walking i was wishing this bullshit about lack of water had been true - instead, for the first three hours the trail kept crossing bogs, and mud and water were normally about knee-deep. Later it got easier, than even nice - with all those birds (incl. some toucans, for example) and monkeys around. I spent the first night in a campamento de chicleros (campamento is a camp, chicleros are guys who collect chicle. Chicle is a kind of tree sap that's shipped to Japan to make 100% natural chewing gum, which is 10 times more expensive, 5 times more unhealthy and 20 time worse for the environment than the usual artificial one - so, obviously, they pay well for it).
The next day was spent in the same fashion, and by the end of it i was there. Took me about 14,5 hours of hiking altogether.
El Mirador itself is a place to sense rather than see; some of the pilots who regularly fly over it, making the crossing into Mexico, have to be convinced those hills are actually overgrown temples, for all of them except one look just like huge pyramidal mounds totally covered with trees, lianas and - only near the top - stones that, if you search hard, you might still find following a certain pattern. The city - it was a big one - now belongs to howler monkeys. So be it.
(By the way - suppose we take Moscow... Or St. Petersburg... I'd rather use Tel-Aviv for the experiment, but it wouldn't make a nice ruin - once abandoned, it would just slowly transform into a pile of shit.)
One full day there, and the whole journey back in a single day - must have not been a good idea, but i was so anxious to get some hot food, take a (bucket) shower and sleep in a bed i voted pro. Since the only voice was mine, i won.
Well, it wasn't easy. There're lots of trails there, and though all eventually lead to Carmelita (my destination), some are longer, some are muddier and some are simply submerged. I must have chosen the wrongest one, and, having started with sunrise, arrived to the village slightly after dark. 12,5 hours non-stop hiking, fast when possible, loud otherwise.
The next day was dedicated to washing off all this mud, pulling ticks from under my armpits, trying to persuade my legs to work and hitching - hitching was the easiest part.
Now, the big question is: am i fed up? For there're cave paintings at Rio Azul, unique of their kind, but it takes 2 to 3 days (each way) to walk there...
