Guatemala - 2011

Day 9 - July 20 - Carmellita to Tintal

In front of the travel agency gathering our materials onto the bus.

At a stop part way up the dirt road. They said we had time for breakfast. We bought some bread, ate a little, and fed the hungry dogs.

In the store we were surprised when chickens wandered in.

The dog on the right was all skin and bones. From above you can see just how skinny it is.

The road from Santa Elena is paved for about 20 minutes. Then you cross a bridge and the road turns to dirt. From here to Carmellita it is all about endurance for the bus and your body because the road is VERY bad. The picture above shows one of the drivers trying to find a way to tie the door shut. He eventually used a piece of wiring.

Notice the deforestation. The government promised better roads, including into the forest to El Mirador. Many people here don't want that because the know that deforestation and explotation always follow roads.

After 4 long hours we arrived in Carmellita. Here is Rudy, who cares for the mules.

The drivers from the bus.

A rooster behind one of the houses. Not only is he beautiful, but we eventually realized that chickens, which roam freely here, seem to be the only domestic animals that are well fed. The horses and dogs are not so fat. Tells you that there are plenty of bugs here.

The bathroom (outhouse) behind the house.

Collecting our stuff.

At the trailhead. This 50+ grandmother is Maria, our guide and cook.

Here's "lodo" (mud). Fortunately, it was only moist. It is hard enough to walk on when dry. I can't imagine how hard it is when wet.

Here's a dug beetle at work collecting some horse "dung". I have a video, but don't know yet how to send or compress it.

A group of caterpillars.

We quickly found out that Maria is much faster and stronger than us.

 

Look closely for two lizards.

We hadn't seen Rudy and the mules yet, so Maria writes a note to tell him that where we are.

Short rest. By this point we are realizing how hard this trek is and is going to be, since we are now only 2 hours or so into a 13 hour journey.

While we are resting Rudy and the mules finally pass us.

On the tree in the foreground are epiphytes, which use the tree only as an anchor and are not parasitic. We also saw orchids, which are parasitic. When I commented that it is surprising that something so beautiful could be a parasite, Kevin said: "Just like women."

Fungus. Kevin and Toby said it was surprising to see things that look like coral: they have both scuba dived.

Notice the smooth, wide ground. This is Mayan work. It is hard to see, but this is the largest ball court in the Peten region. In Mayan "football" they could use their feet and shoulders. The grand prize for the winner: ritual sacrifice. We are now in Tintal.

Trees that grow together and intertwine.

The grand pyramid of Tintal. Tintal has not been excavated yet, obviously.

Civilization. It is amazing how exciting a few cabanas are after 5 hours of walking thru the jungle. All camping is done at archeological sites like this.

And since they are at archeological sites, there are guards. Notice that the cabanas here are very nice. They even have concrete floors.

Toby in his hammock. Usually they bring tents (carpas) for the guests, so I was thinking Keven would supervise hammock deployment. Instead, the guards and Rudy had them up very fast, even surprising Kevin in their methods. We didn't even need the small ropes we brought. A couple of gauruchas (sticks) and we are ready to go.

Here at the campsite there are nice cooking facilities. Maria, who just kicked our butts for 5 hours and 13 miles, quickly starts on dinner, which consists of a typical soup: chicken; whiskil (local squash); potatoes; and carrots. This will be the last fresh meat for the trip.

Kevin and Toby are wiped out. I, too, am tired, but am eager to see things, so I follow Maria and Rojellio to the top of the pyramid. Rojellio is a local harvester of the palm fronds, which are sold for roofing or around the world to florists. His wife is in New Jersey and he works in the jungle for several months at a time. There are several harvesters here around Tintal.

Showing the way to El Mirador. It is very hard to see (even in person), but one of El Mirador pyramids is just visible on the horizon.

Maria has a libretto (small book) which contains history and other information about the different archeological sites. Maria's English is very limited, so she speaks entirely in Spanish. Fortunately she and Rudy speak very slowly and distinctly, so it easy easy to understand them. They are very grateful that Kevin and I speak Spanish well. Sometimes they have groups with no Spanish at all.

Have no idea what bird this is.

For my troubles.... Maria said it has been many weeks since someone has actually seen a sunset, due to the clouds of the rainy season.

As we are preparing for bed I notice a small snake climbing into one of my bags. Kevin plays with it a bit and Maria calls over Rudy to see what kind it is. Rudy says it is venenoso (poisonous).

It is a good lesson for us. From this point on we close every bad and shake out all blankets and clothing before using.