For Semana Santa (Holy Week) we flew up to Flores, Guatemala
to start a trek that would bring us just 7km south of Guatemala’s northern
border with Mexico and to the Mayan ruins: El Mirador.
It's a 5 day hike, with 2 days needed to get to the site, one full day at El Mirador, and then another 2 days to return. The only other way to get into the site right now is by helicopter. For more info on the archeological site itself,
this is a great article by Smithsonian: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/El-Mirador-the-Lost-City-of-the-Maya.html
After landing in Flores, it was a 2.5hr ride to the town of
Carmelita, where treks to El Mirador leave from. After loading up the mules, we set out with
our guide towards El Tintal, another set of Mayan ruins and our campsite for
the 1st night.
Moon rising from atop the El Tintal pyramid
We slept in hammocks with mosquito nets at night
On day two we set
out from El Tintal early in the morning, trying to beat some of the 100 degree
heat and humidity of the Peten in April, and arrived at El Mirador after a full
day’s hike.
El Tintal campsite: morning of day 2
Day 3 was a day to
explore the ruins, so we didn’t have to pack up camp again. We climbed the El Tigre pyramid early to
watch sunrise over the Peten and then spent the rest of the day exploring the
ruins and climbing Mirador’s other large pyramid: La Danta.
We went back up El
Tigre that night for sunset and then were lucky enough to have run into the
director of the site who is overseeing the archaeological excavations. So, he invited us to come into a cave under
one of the pyramids to see a Mayan mask they had discovered with original red
paint still visible.
On day 4 we
retraced our steps back to El Tintal
Morning of day 5.: almost done and very ready for something with ice after 5 days of drinking hot water.
Success. Sunset back in Flores before catching our flight back to Guatemala City.
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