Welcome to the Jungle - Guat pt 1

 

The van pierced through the jungle, coming to a stop at checkpoint on the outskirts of the Tikal mayan ruins. The guard, reluctantly lurking from the safety of the guardhouse approached the vehicle, 12 guage shotgun at the ready– you could never be too careful with the banditos in the area– and searched the inhabitants of the vehicle. A fatigued lot of faces squinted back, the flashlight against the blackness of night temporarily blinding the travellers. After a short exchange of grunting and cash between the driver and guard, the van continued forward into the jungle.

The van came to a halt. The group leader, was a short and stocky man, whose face displayed every one of his 52 years. He walked with a limp, probably from an incident with a jaguar, who are said to be re-incarnations of the Mayan leaders murdered during the collapse over 10 generations ago. They stalk the jungle and protect it with ferocious brutality. “Vamos gringos!” ordered the leader, and travellers exited cautiously from the van, unsure of the task awaiting them. They were immediately greeted by the terrifying howls of the howler monkey, and the suffocating embrace of the jungle. It became clear almost instantly that there was hatred in the jungle. The travellers sensed they were not welcome.

The travellers marched through the jungle at a fearsome pace, tripping over the many tree roots which are slowly, but surely, reclaiming the road. As the march continued, the torturous conditions mixed with the deadly effects of dehydration and fatigue started to take their toll – a sprained ankle suffered by one of the group. After the member faced the impossible task of continuing at half capacity, the horrible realisation set in - the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. The group, driven mad by the early stages of starvation, synonymous with sunrise tours, agreed that to survive, the group would need to resort to the lowest form of human survival. They would eat this person.

Wow that got way out of control, that’s what sitting on a Guatemalan bus for 12 hours does to ones sanity. That and not having to commit any brain power to licence plate recognition systems – the imagination tends to fill the gap. Anyway we got to our destination unscathed – Temple IV in Tikal just before sunrise. It was amazing, sitting there, listening as the jungle woke up, while watching the ruins of Tikal pierce through the mist as the sun rose.

After descending, we took a tour through the site, definitely the most grand of all the sites we have visited so far. The wildlife was amazing too, we saw Toucans, howler and spider monkeys and our tour guide lured a Tarantula from its lair and let us pat it.

We returned to our hotel in the sleepy town of El Remate. Located on the other side of the Petan lake than Flores, the local tourist mecca, it gave us awesome access to the lake for swimming and kayaking.

 

 

 

From there we said goodbye to our good mates Ryan and Vanessa who have been with us since the start if Belize and moved to the high country, to a town called Lanquin. It was a very tough journey, taking 13 hours in a van that reeked of diesel, but it was well worth it…the countryside is amazing. At this stage we really got the meaning of Guatemalan time. Basically add an additional 50% on any quoted time.

The main feature of the area is Semuc Champey – and it was breathtaking. Its basically a part of the river where the river flows under a massive rock shelf. On the top of this shelf are pools with the most amazing colour of blue I have ever seen. There were also other shenanigans like scurrying through a cave with only candles as light and some awesome jumps.

 

Possibly my favourite photo of the trip so far

 

 

 

 

We stayed in this area for a week at one of our favourite hostels so far, Utopia. Beautiful spot, and only accessable by 4wd. Shaz didn’t like that part very much.

From here, its onto the second half of our Guatemalan trip.

Cheers,

Dave