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Published: April 15th 2017
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The border crossing was easy, we had to pay US 20$ to exit Belize, get a new stamp and enter the country. There, they told us the bus would be the same as a taxi to our first destination “La Isla de Flores”. We did not really want to believe it, but hey…there was really no other option. Accompanied by Autumn and her friend Kati we took the taxi, arrived at the hostel “Dosamigos” and organized our trip to “El Mirador”, which was highly recommended by our friend Kika. US 250$ is a lot of money, but it sounded worth the trip. While getting money from the ATM, someone offered the same trip for US 210$. While definitely a difference we had already booked the trip and were kind of stuck, but Antonia was able to negotiated US 225$.
At 5 am, we got picked up by a shuttle. We were not four people, but 15!! Wow! What could we do at that point? A bumpy and forever lasting 3h chicken bus drive brought us to the head of the trail. We had a walk of 85km in front of us. Our final destination should be the highest Maya pyramid
ever built – La Danta. 5 mules got loaded with camping equipment, food and our few personal belongings. We had to carry simply a small daypack. This would be luxury hiking at its finest.
Day 1: A boring, yet plain, 17km through the forest. It was an easy hike, especially without luggage. Two ladies made sandwiches along the trek and we got a first impression of still covered pyramids when we passed the old city of Tintal. Dinner and the campsite was already completely set up when we arrived just before dark – truly luxury hiking ?
Day 2: 24km through more and more forest. The trek itself was not really exciting but it was still a nice hike. After a long day, we arrived at campsite #2, just outside of the final destination “El Mirador”. This campsite was definitely in the forest and far away from civilization, so especially water was very rare. This night we did not move one more meter.
Day 3: At 5 am Enrique, our guide made us crawling out of the comfy tent beds to see the sunrise from the top of pyramid “El Tigre”. The clouds weren’t in our favor,
but we still got our first glimpse of the city. After breakfast Enrique, our guide showed us the “El Mirador”, the city of the Maya. The city was discovered in the 1926s and archeological investigations started about 40 years later. This is why 90% of this city still remains in its original status. Original status means most of the pyramids look like a big hill, covered with soil, trees and other plants. Others, like the pyramid complex “Leon” was already free of vegetation and we could see the magnificent ancient pyramid which was hiding underneath. If this was considered one of the smaller ones of this city, La Danta (the main pyramid) must be huuuuuge! We walked on the same roads the Mayas once used, visible because the ground was 2m higher than the surrounding area. Enrique showed us the current archeological investigation sites, covered in plastic to avoid new plants to growing while they excavate them. It was impressive to see how much work it must take to uncover all of this and how good the carving still looked after 2000 years under the earth.
And then it was 4 pm, prime time. The whole crew walked across
the city to the other end. 600 m length, 350 m wide and 72 m high, the tallest, biggest… Maya pyramid complex was waiting for us. Arriving there was a bummer.. where is the pyramid?? “Here you see a few square meters of the stairs uncovered, the mountain you see in front of you is La Danta”. Uuuups, good to know! Out of air we arrived at the triangle, the three small altar pyramids at the top. Yiheeeey, at least they were uncovered and gave us an idea of the whole thing. And then we were standing on top. La Danta is the highest point in the region, so as far as we could see – forest. 360 Degree of pure forest! I think we even could see Mexico, who knows. The sun set, the moon and the stars rose and it was magical and worth every step we had to take to get here.
I will be back in 50 years when this site is free of vegetation and till then we have seen enough old stones for a while. The way back was the same as the way in, and with a spoon full of Disney songs
it wasn’t that boring. It was amazingly organized, compliments to the whole team. I just wish they would care for the mules a little bit more. No water and often bloody scratched from the luggage hurt my heart – they had to walk all the 80 km too.
We stayed two more days in Flores, recovered our feet and enjoyed tons of Guatemalan tacos from the night market.
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