Sierra Las Minas

On Friday after work we embarked on another adventure, this time to the Sierra Las Minas Biosphere Reserve towards the eastern part of Guatemala.  Sierra las Minas is one of the few cloud forests in Guatemala (about 8300 ft above sea level) and a good viewing spot to see quetzals.  After a couple “adventures” with the car on the steep, rocky, mountain road, we eventually arrived at the cabins, finishing the last part of the climb on foot in the dark.

Saturday we work up to a dew-covered landscape, much like you would expect in a cloud forest.  We spent the rest of the day hiking.

 So not the quetzal that we were hoping to see, but we did see a Horned Guan.

 Peña del Ángel

Sunday we got up early and were lucky enough to see a female quetzal, but no good photo op.  We hiked out of the park, down the mountain side, passing though farms and small towns, until we finally reached the church where we'd had to leave the car.

A little bit of everything

I've taken a couple shorter trips over the last two weekends.  I spent a quick night in Antigua for a going away party.  It was a little rainy, but the clouds parted long enough to see Volcano Agua:

Then took a day trip to the department of Santa Rosa to see the sulfuric lake, Laguna de Ixapco.

 And last weekend went to Puerto San Jose for some beach, sand, and heat.

El Mirador: Trek in the Peten

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 1^st 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.