El Mirador

The trek to El Mirador was one of the best things I have ever done. It was an incredible experience in so many different respects - beautiful hiking through the jungle, the physical challenge of the distance, exploring ruins of cities that were, in their time, some of the most populated cities on earth, enjoying the breathtaking views from atop temples, enjoying all these experiences with a great, very positive group of people that were, just days prior, total strangers, and just being humbled by the opportunity to see this massive empire of ruins.

The trip was five days, 80 miles. Most of the hiking was done on the first, second, fourth, and fifth days. The third day was spent exploring El Mirador. El Mirador was the epicenter of Mayan civilization during the pre-classic periord, roughly 150 BCE - 150 CE. Maybe 5-10% of the ruins have been fully or partially excavated. The region is very flat. Most of the ruins you see are mounds of earth that shoot up unnaturally from the ground...and they are everywhere. We were all blown away by the enormity of this Empire. From the top of Templo Tigre, the largest temple ever built by Mayans, you see the other temples of Mirador shooting up from the canopy, and you also see the temples from other cities, roughly a days walk from Mirador, in every direction. You realize that this place was the urban center for Mayans over 2000 years ago, and are awed by the fact that what was once a greatly populated, cultural center is now in the middle of nowhere.

The gang upon departure. L-R: Leila, Kellen, me, Kyle, Stuart


The river near our campsite on the first night


There was A LOT of walking. I would want to slow down and really enjoy all the sights and sounds of the jungle, but when you have 20 miles to cover in a day, you have to keep moving at a pretty good pace.


Templo Leon. One of the few fully excavated sites.


On day four, we walked from El Mirador to the ruins of Tintal. The entire walk was on a Mayan causeway - a highway the Mayans had built between the two cities. It was incredible - roughly 40 meters wide and raised about 10 meters from the jungle floor. Now it is just a raised mound of earth in the jungle, and it was amazing to constantly remind myself that what I was walking on was man-made.


This is what a lot of the temples, unexcavated, looked like. You would reach the top and have incredible views of the region, jungle in every direction as far as the eye could see.


This is on top of Templo Danta, in El Mirador, day 3. Our guide, Alex, pointed in the direction that this photo faces, and showed us a small bump literally on the horizon. It was Templo Henequin of Tintal, and our destination for the next day. Impossible to think that we would walk that distance...but we did.
Lots and lots of jungle. In every direction.

Kyle and I slept on top of Templo Tigre the second and third night. Incredible. At night we emerged from the dark jungle to the top of the temple, where the moonlight was bright as day. The jungle sprawled out below in the moon´s silvery light. Not a lot of sleep that first night, which was great. As the moon dropped from the sky, the stars came out in full force. Shooting stars. It was great to wake up periodically and note the movement of the stars. At four, we woke up and sat in silence for two hours as the day broke over the jungle. This was something I will never forget.

This is from Tigre, looking out over Templo Danta on the other side of El Mirador. The sun rose, covered by clouds, directly above Templo Danta. Right above the temple, the clouds parted like an eye opening to reveal the sun.



The third evening of the trip. We paid a local archeologist 200 Quetzales to unlock a door underneath Templo Jaguar. Inside, we got to crawl through tunnels and explore a recent important discovery: a remarkably intact facade from the original temple. The portion above reveals the tongue and teeth of a giant serpent head. The black, white and red paint was still in good condition. Amazing to crawl around and explore an on-going excavation.

We did it!!
Right now I am in Lanquin, Guatemala. Yesterday was my original departure date to return home. Now I have a return ticket to LA on November 25. Yesterday, my birthday, I did the full day Semuc Champay tour. Wading and swimming through a cave formed by the river that flows through it, jumping off waterfalls and giant swings, tubing down a river, and swimming in the crystaline pools that make Semuc Champay famous. Pictures coming soon.