We started our hike to the ruins of El Mirador this morning, but Julie threw up twice and didn’t feel up to a 7-hour hike. Luckily we had a flexible itinerary and decided to just take another day at Tintal. We climbed the pyrámida that we missed yesterday with its epicly steep stairs (characteristic of all Mayan ruins, we soon discovered).

Walfre pointed out all the other ruins in the distance, a.k.a. little green lumps.

We talked Mayan history on the pyramid. I noticed that the jungle is flaaaaaaaaaat.

Back at camp, Jim and Vince were jonesing to sleep in a tree. They found two medium-sized trees near the camp and rigged up the hammocks.

I spent my lazy afternoon brainstorming for Zero Tuition College (or whatever it will become). A sunset on the pyramid sealed the deal.

I celebrated the new year somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean by going to bed at 9pm (which is pretty late for the intrepid jungle explorer, especially when the sun sets at 6).

Today we explored the Mayan ruins of Tintal. A pack of howler monkeys greeted us with, you guessed it, some serious howling. (I have a video of this which I’ll get up later.)

We found a sweet “Strangler Fig” tree to climb. This tree sprouts from the ground and wraps itself around other trees like a constricting vine.

I used the Big Shot (a badass $140 slingshot for tree climbing) to put a throw line into the Strangler.

Then I prepared to climb.

We got high.

Vince got realllly high, using our special “Spider rig” technique which lets you move between nearby (10-15 feet away) with ease. On the hike back to camp I spotted a little feral pig. That night we met a few of the other, much larger tourist groups in Tintal, which included Germans, Italians, Swiss, Beligiums, Guatemalans, and Australians.

The first day of our 10-day jungle trek started at 5am with Walfre (our guide) picking us up in his sweet Toyota.

Along the way we bought cigarettes with which to “bribe” the guards at each ruins site. (This turned out to be more of a nicety than a bribe.) We also stopped for breakfast at a comedor típica. I peeked into the kitchen.

Vince played ¨Welcome to the Jungle¨on his iPod as we drove farther into the endless green canopy. Bienvenidos a la jungla became our trip slogan.

We picked up our guide’s assistant, Juan Carlos (blue shirt on the left), and the muleskinner, Miguel, in the village of Carmelita. Loaded gear and people on the mullas and off we went.

Tourist’s route. At least they’re honest about it. I read that Guatemala gets 60% of its income from tourism.

Jim fell in love with the pimienta plant, a.k.a. allspice. His mule was also named Pimienta.

Other highlights of the day included:

• Getting my first mosquito bite. Malaria, hooo!
• Falling off the mule after it ran me into multiple low branches. Jim fell off too as his mule hit a mud pocket.
• Checking out some authentico chicle trees.

After 5 hours of walking and riding we reached our first ruins site, Tintal. We set up our hammocks, trying to avoid the mule poo everywhere. My sweet hammock is on the right.

maxin relaxin shooting some b-ball outside of school…eh…okay, that Fresh Prince of Bel Air reference failed. Anyways, today we had a super relaxing day touristy Flores and less touristy Santa Elena (next town over).

Highlights included:

Walking tour of Flores

Helping Vince find a zapataria (since his shoes were “stolen” upon arrival, a.k.a. forgotten at home)

Exploring the bustling Santa Elena market

Taking a tuk-tuk taxi back to Flores (see Julie in the mirror)

Hanging out and eating at a Mayan restaurant (Jim drew a figure out of a German-language Mayan ruins photobook)

…and enjoying a happy hour by the lake. No photos for that!

Tomorrow we meet our guide Walfre at 6am to head out for a 9-day expedition to El Mirador. I’ll catch up on blogging (and postdate my entries) on Dec 8th. Saludos!

Seven AM, the hostel manager told us. Seven AM is the only bus from Guatemala City to Flores. So after a scant  few hours of sleep we dutifully got up at five-thirty, which is three-thirty west coast time, and hopped a taxi to the bus station only to discover that the bus in fact leaves at 10 AM. Ahh, travel. How I’ve missed you.

Luckily we found the bus terminal “restaurant” which the manager also assured us about:

To her credit, the single woman managing the restaurant whipped us up some awesome eggs with refried black beans, fresh tortillas, and a side of cream. $2.50.

The rest of our day was spent on the 9-hour bus ride from Guatemala City to the northern island city of Flores. When we thankfully stepped off the bus, the weather was a perfect 68 degrees with a cool breeze. The island is mostly filled with gringos and apparently well-off Guatemalan families.

Our hostel dropped our reservation so we stayed at another next door. A few more doors down we dined on some lasagna, burritos, and a fresh local fish for yours truly.

Make sure to check out yesterday’s updated post for pictures of our travel crew!