In the Jungle...

The Mayan civilisation is of greatest importance in planet Earth.The most known  place to encounter this civilisation is the ruins of Tikal. However is not the biggest and is extremely touristic.

One of the first things that people proposed us to do in Guatemala is to visit the biggest site of the Mayans located in the jungle of Peten (the northern region of Guatemala). There -we heard- is located, among many ancient Mayan towns, the biggest pyramid of the world in volume, in the site of El Mirador. Moreover, the jungle it was one of the reasons that we visited this country, and it definitely has a specific attractiveness to all the nature lovers! And that´s what we decided to do...

As Nere described before, our friend Lencho, introduced us to a lot of wonderful people. Among them was Laura and Andres! Two beautiful guys, with a lot of fun and who love travelling! It was the perfect company that we were searching in order to take the long trip to El Mirador!

So, everything else was easy after we found such a nice company! We bought our food and water took a lot of (uncomfortable) buses and we arrive at the closest point to the jungle, a beautiful tranquil village named Carmelita. There, we arranged with the cooperative of the village a guide, we hired 3 mules and after we spend a night there we departed for our wild hiking. The whole trip to El Mirador and back, included totally five days of hiking in the pristine jungle of Peten, more than 120km of walking. We knew that this trip will remain unforgettable...

Before we start our trip, with our guide, Don Ambrosio. 

Already from the first hour of our walk, we started encountering flora and fauna that was new to us. Medicinal plants, beautiful trees, looong vines, love trees, blue birds, serpents and much more, synthesised a primitive and new experience to us. There you can feel, one with everything that surrounds you, you encounter reality and all of your senses are devoted to the nature. When the loud voice of the guide was stopping, you were entering in a state of meditation with the nature in order to understand how everything works there. Away from the "civilised society", machines, noises, pollution and humankind everything still works perfect!

In the end of our first day and after of 7 hours of (slow) walking, we arrived at Tintal. It is the first (comparatively small) Maya town on our way and is the place of a beautiful camp, organised by the cooperative, including our tents, a nice kitchen and friendly people. There on the top of the highest pyramid of the city we encounter for the first time the magic of watching a spectacular sunset with monkeys howling around the trees and while having the whole jungle on your feet. Magic...

Sunset on the top of the Tintal pyramid.

At the same time the moon is making his first appearance!

All the jungle on our feet, and the howler monkeys  dancing on the trees!!

The second day the walking time was more hours, but we were moving deeper in the jungle. After a while, everybody was walking with his pace and you were also able to  "get lost" some hundreds of meters away from the rest, and this made the experience unique and more personal. I was feeling that the more you were meditating in the jungle alone, you were able to transmit in the same wavelength as the nature. And the more you were becoming one with it, you were able to spot, new animals, birds, movement and animal voices. It completely made sense by that time to me the techniques that our ancestors used for hunting. I´ve reached my Zen!

That day, after we reached the camping site of El Mirador, nobody was able to move anymore. The hammock which I occupied looked the best place to spend the rest of the day, with the spider monkeys  howling literally 2 meters from our head! Amazing!

For a little rest on the mule!!!

Finally we arrived!!

One of the first pyramids!

Andres and Nere inside a tomb...!

Our camping site at El Mirador!

Above our heads!

The third day was supposedly the less tiring day! We only had to walk around the city of El Mirador.. But when you think sooo many different pyramids, going up and down in some of them only relaxing it wasn´t. But we were so motivated to reach the biggest one that we didn´t really care!

The map of the site.

And after wandering some time around the Mayan town, we did it! We manage to arrive on the biggest pyramid the appropriate time, when the sun was fading away and the Full Moon was making its appearance. And we were so lucky, that we had the appropriate company for that. We reached the most sacred site of the Mayans, and we had to ask the permission of the holy spirits for this reason. So, Sanya, a girl from a nearby jungle of Palenque, Mexico, burnt the Copal in order to push away the Evil Spirits and sang some folk songs in order the Good Spirits to accept us in their site.. Under the Full Moon. It was the most Sacred time of my whole life. It was Magic, Miraculous. A feeling that no matter how many photos we show, or how many things we write, we will not be able to describe to even in a 10% of what we felt.. 

Sunset on the roof of the world!

La luna...

The next days we started our way back. By that time, we were acclimated in the jungle so we were walking with the automatic pilot on! We felt so full, and so tired from the walking as well..

Natural consequence we found a silent place next to the biggest lake of the region and relaxed for couple of days, literally, sunbathing and swimming all day long! 

:D

Yuuuuuuuuuuhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!