El Mirador

So, 23.2 - Thu, 27.2

At 5 o'clock in the morning, I was waiting for my over 3-hour transport to Carmelita. This is the nearest village to the largest Maya pyramid in Mesoamerica, El Mirador or La Danta. Luckily, we were a very small group, only Gerit from Holland and I will hike through the jungle for the next 5 days together with our Spanish guide Enrique. After breakfast, we started and had 19 km ahead of us to a small Maya site called Tintal and to the 1st camp. Luckily, the path was very flat and shady, Enrique set a good pace and answered all my questions about the Maya along the way. Our backpacks were only filled with the essentials for the hike, most of the weight was carried by a few horses for us.

In contrast to Tikal and Palenque, Tintal (and also El Mirador) dates back to the pre-classical period of the Maya, Enrique explained the differences in architecture to us and also showed us the ball court. In Tintal, nothing has been excavated yet, so we basically saw a few mounds and climbed up the Pavo pyramid. After about 6 hours, we reached the camp and could rest a bit before we climbed up the 2nd pyramid La Isla for the sunset. The view over the jungle was breathtaking! After dinner, we chatted with the other people in the camp and went to bed early.

On the 2nd day, we started at 7 o'clock. We were a bit more leisurely and took 3 breaks along the way. In the afternoon, we reached the archaeological site of El Mirador and already explored the Grupo La Muerta on the outskirts of the city. After 24 km and about 8 hours, we reached the 2nd camp near the El Tigre pyramid. The evening was similar to the previous one: sunset from the pyramid, dinner, some more chatting and then going to sleep soon.

We got up at 5.20 a.m. to see the sunrise from the El Tigre pyramid, but unfortunately, the clouds moved in 10 minutes before. After breakfast, we explored some temples and the Acropolis, the archaeologists are far from finished here. We also climbed 12 meters up the Copo tree, unfortunately, I got bitten by some ants and my left arm was quite swollen afterwards. We spent the afternoon in the hammocks at the camp, then we walked to the largest pyramid El Mirador for the sunset and only the three of us were on top. The sunsets over the jungle are really impressive! During the night, I also saw 2 shooting stars 🌠

The last 2 days we went back again, first 24 km and on the last day 19 km, in total we must have walked over 100 km in the 5 days. It rained a bit on the last day, we were really lucky with the weather, just not so much with the sunrises. In the jungle, we got up every day between 5.20 and 6 o'clock. My swollen hand has also recovered. It was a really cool tour 😊