Since we had fallen asleep at about
nine it was not surprising that we were awake long before Santiago
called 'Buenos Días'
at 5:30 the next morning. I heard the cooks and guides talking
shortly after four, and soon after the smell of smoke drifted over
from the cooking fire: Jadide and Vikki were preparing for breakfast.
We were going to leave at seven at the latest, earlier if possible,
to make use of the cooler conditions of early morning. A generous
portion of eggs, beans and the all-important tortillas would easily
sustain us till lunch time. The guides picked up our big bags for the
mules so that Miguel could start to load them, an elaborate process,
as I could observe on several occasions. The mules and horses stood
totally still while the two huge packs were balanced to the left and
right of the pack saddle and secured with rope, with a third one
stacked on top, before the whole load was covered with a heavy tarp.
The mules carried not only our luggage but all of the supplies we
needed for the five-day tour, including drinking water. We asked
Santiago about feed for the mules: Miguel climbs a certain kind of
tree and cuts branches for the animals to eat; they
find water on the way.
With twenty-three kilometres to go that
day we were walking relatively fast. The road was wide and dry, the
only thing we had to watch for were rocks and roots. Worst were the
stick-like stumps of little trees that had been cut to keep the path
clear; since they are difficult to spot I stubbed my toes several
times. Heads down, eyes on the feet of the person before us, we
walked close to each other; by the end of the trip we all were a bit
stiff around the shoulders from walking in that position, including
Santiago who had to keep an eye on the trail for obstacles, snakes
and spiders.
The mule train passed us half way
through the morning, and a little bit later Jadide and Nikki with one
of the mules, one walking, one riding. For lunch we stopped at a kind
of visitor centre, a relatively new building with information tables
about the area, the flora and fauna. Everyone who comes on the trail
is hoping for jaguar sightings – well, half hoping – but they are
rare, we heard, and tapirs,
javelinas, oacimundi, spider monkeys
and howler monkeys, various snakes, poisonous and non poisonous,
tarantulas and other spiders and many kinds of birds may be seen.
Since there was no way to keep things cool our
meals now were vegetarian, and lunch consisted of baked tortilla
shells with grated beets and cabbage. Fruits like pineapple,
watermelon and cantaloupe were always part of the menu as well.
Santiago pointed out that the road we
were walking on was part of the extensive Maya road system connecting
different cities. It was visibly elevated, sloping on both sides,
and quite straight.
Early in the afternoon we made a little detour to
a place called 'La Muerta' where two smaller temples have been
excavated. It was a dark place, only a small area carved out of the
dense jungle, the buildings already covered in moss and vines again.
Archaeologists had made an opening in the side of one of them, and we
crawled in on our hands and knees, arriving in a long, narrow room
where we could stand upright only in the centre, under the raised
beam. This had been living quarters for the priests, and the site had
been a place of burial as well. Moths and a couple of huge spiders
were the only inhabitants there now. It was a strange place, a bit
eerie even in the mottled sunlight of early afternoon. So few people
have seen this after the demise of the Mayas; no vehicle can get
here, the helicopters who take people to El Mirador have no way of
landing here. How privileged we were to be able to see this!
A few minutes later we stopped at a
large, partly restored petroglyph that had been found right on the
Maya road, sculpted in the Early Classic (250 – 550 A.D.). Santiago
showed us the glyph of the serpent, thought to represent the Serpent
Dynasty (Kan Kingdom) that ruled in El Mirador.
Our feet hurting, tired and sweaty we
arrived at our camp at El Mirador shortly after four. This camp,
other than the one at El Tintal, has no solar power. We all were
looking forward to a shower, which was interesting here: for ten
quetzales (about $1.50) we could buy a five-gallon pail of water from
the guards running the place. The water was poured into another five
gallon pail fitted with a shower head, which was then heaved up and
secured with a rope above our heads in a shack with plastic walls. A
small tap regulated the flow – basic, maybe, but working well, and,
as it turned out, with more water than one needs for a shower, maybe
because we were careful not to use too much. The second shower was
more primitive yet: a pail and a smaller bucket for scooping.
The cooks, too, were working under even
more difficult conditions than at the other camp: here, they didn't
even have solar lights, but were cooking by candlelight. 'Romantico',
they said, laughing, when we commented on that.
It felt like midnight after we had
supper, but it was only about six- thirty, way too early to go to
bed. We decided to play cards again, but before we started Santiago
came to our table looking like he had something up his sleeve. He did
indeed: he regaled us with ghost stories, and though he might have
just wanted to entertain us I had the feeling that he himself
believed what he told us. There were stories of a man without a head,
a woman with long hair who was beautiful from behind, but when she
turned around she had the face of a horse, and the poor souls she
lured away were not seen again. People from Carmelita would never go
to La Muerta during the night, he said – and that I believed for
sure. Since we needed a translation for some if not most of it, the
first part of the entertainment for me was already to watch Paloma's
eyes grow wide: she played along perfectly with Santiago's stories
and later translated for us into German, or Borja or Asha into
English, just like they did so generously for much of the information
we got during the trek. It was fun to have the guides be part of our
group as well, and the cooks who were always ready to laugh and joke.
Candle flames smoking in the evening
breeze, we played cards for a little while before we turned in. The
next morning Santiago was going to wake us even earlier so that we
could see the sunrise from the observatory that is part of the
complex, only about ten minutes away.
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