Back                                                                                                  January 2010 Guatemala Trip

                                                                                                                (2010 Trip Giveaway)

                                                                                                                                                   by Greg Vandiver

I first flew to Cancun and dropped off my scuba diving equipment at Crystal Diver Scuba Shop in Isla Mujeres. My good friend Alvaro Garrido who is a dive master at the dive shop agreed to take my scuba equipment to his home there and keep it until I returned twelve days later, so I would not have to haul my equipment to Guatemala and back. This was very helpful to me and it is one of many instances where I am fortunate to have friends in certain countries which I visit at times, during my travels. 

I then flew from Cancun to Flores, Guatemala a few days before the others did and took advantage of the free time I had, by taking three days of Spanish lessons at Dos Mundos Spanish school which is owned by my good friend Dieter Richter. All I can say is that my Spanish is a little better than it was before I started the classes, because I tend to be a slow learner. During that time, I tried my luck at some fishing and only caught one blanco in Lake Peten-Itza, which I gave to a local man.

This particular week in the State of Peten in Guatemala, they would have their version of a State Fair and would celebrate all hours of the day....and night. For numerous days I listened to firecrackers and cherry bombs being spent all over the city. Also, there were at least two different parades each day, which would make their way around the entire island as well as live music being played nightly (at times until 1 am) across the lake. It's a good thing I took some earplugs along on the trip, because they came in very handy when trying to sleep at night.

I met up with Dwayne Shreve who lives in Maryland and Rip Phillips who lives in Jacksonville, Florida for dinner once they both arrived and we decided to eat at Restaurant & Pizzeria Capitan Tortuga. We later ventured down to Restaurant Los Peches for a few cervezas. While we were sitting there, I noticed a well known local man walking by, who had been guiding trips to El Mirador for the past 29 years. It was Juan Sanchez and I invited him to join us. We talked for a while and surprisingly, Juan got pretty hammered. Heck, I only bought him two beers! 

I felt bad about getting him in this shape, so Dwayne, Rip and I helped him to Cafe Yaxha and I bought him a chicken dinner, with hopes of sobering him up a bit. Afterwards, we decided to contact one of our taxi driver friends there in Flores, for taking Juan to his home. Of course we paid for the taxi fare as well. I still believe Juan had a good bit to drink, before we even saw him that night and that we merely finished him off by giving him the two beers. Regardless though, I still felt bad about the situation. 

After being woke up on this morning at 6:17 a.m. by the sounds of firecrackers going off, Dwayne, Rip and I decided to visit the Maya ruins of Paxcaman and Yaxha for the day. We hired our good friend Lente to drive us to the two sites. We first stopped at Paxcaman, which is on private land and is on the way towards Ixlu. The site was fairly small but had a large temple mound which had previously been looted for artifacts, as all structures had been many years earlier in the Peten. 

The temple was up on a hill and a person could see very far in all directions from it's summit. From there we went onward to visit the Maya ruins of Yaxha, which is my favorite site in all of Guatemala. It simply has so much to offer and one does not have to fight the large crowds there at the Maya ruins of Yaxha, like a person does at Tikal each and every day throughout the year.

We were fortunate enough to run into Raul Noriega before entering the site. When we asked him where he was going, he simply told us was going to La Blanca for a few hours, to check on the workers and such there. It's always good to see Raul and I consider him to be a very good friend of mine, who I cherish greatly. Once inside the site, we all toured the site extensively. 

Since this was Rip's first visit to Guatemala, I could tell he enjoyed visiting the site very much. Once back in Flores, we met up with Merlina Barnes who was also in town. She is always a joy to see and has helped me tremendously over the years on numerous occasions. I feel very fortunate to have friends in Guatemala such as Merlina. 

Dwayne was to head onward to the Village of Carmelita the next day, to check out the village and get some more information for sharing with others on his web site. Meanwhile....Merlina, Eva, Dieter, Rip, Raul and I had planned on visiting three sites together, which I never visited before. Needless to say, I was very excited. We headed out fairly early the next morning by colectivo, to be dropped off at the Cruces de Yaxha. 

Once we were dropped off, it wasn't ten minutes before Raul showed up in his Government issued 4-wheel drive double cab pickup truck to take all of the people in our group to visit all of the sites we had planned to visit for the day. We all loaded up into Raul's truck and went to someone's house just down the road a bit towards Melchor de Mencos. 

Raul picked up a young man at the house we stopped at and went just down the road a bit to km. #75 on that particular highway for stopping at a house that had a large cow pasture behind it. Come to find out, the young man we had previously picked up was to be our guide for visiting the Maya ruins of El Venado, which was on a private cattle ranch. This particular site is not on any map I have of the area, but it consisted of three different plazas. 

We all walked through the private ranch for approximately 35 minutes before arriving to the first plaza, which had temples that were looted heavily. From one particular plaza, we could see Lake Yaxha in the distance. It was a very nice site to visit and I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to visit such a site. Most private land owners that I have encountered in the past, won't let you cross their land for visiting such a site. 

Once we left there, we went onward towards Melchor de Mencos for stopping at the Maya ruins of Tzikintzakan, which is located twelve kilometers Southeast of Melchor de Mencos and was first discovered by the legendary explorer Teobert Maler in the year 1905. It was necessary for Raul to lock in the hubs on his 4 wheel drive truck to go up the rock-covered hill to the main plaza of that site. Once there, the palace was phenominal to look at. The palace consisted of two or three different doorways, which still had the original sapodilla lintels. The lintels were at least 1,200 years old and were still very much intact. I was amazed! 

After leaving the site, we all went to the nearby town of Melchor de Mencos for having lunch at one of the nicer restaurants they have there, which is situated on the Belize border. Afterwards, we all went nearby to visit the Maya ruins of Buenos Aires. This site was spectacular! I could not believe how nice the site was and of course the temples there were heavily looted, as expected. Once we all were getting into the truck for going back to Flores, I ripped the entire seat of my khaki pants I was wearing. 

I have the worst luck sometimes! As we were driving back towards Flores, Merlina spotted a store which had a sewing machine out in front of the store. Come to find out, the sewing machine did not work at all, but after Eva asked the attendant of the store if she had a needle and some thread, we left there with one needle and two small spools of thread.

Once back to my hotel room in Flores, I was busy sewing up the large hole in the seat of my pants. Those two years of Home Economics class I took in high school definitely came in handy...I will tell you that much! I was sure to double the thread at the needle area, which strengthened the stitch I was making. I decided to go meet the last two people in our group, when they arrived to Mundo Maya International Airport. It was good to finally meet Mary Gunn who lives in Oklahoma and also, to meet the 2010 trip giveaway winner from my website; Julia Shreve who also lives in Oklahoma. 

By being the person I chose this year to give a free trip to, Julia received from me free roundtrip flights as needed from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Flores, Guatemala and I took care of her part of the cost for her to go with me and the others in our group on the five day mule trip to El Mirador with Walfre Chi. Once we all arrived back to Flores and Julia and Mary checked into their hotel room, we all had dinner at Santana Restaurant and settled up with Walfre Chi on the remaining amount of money we owed to him for his guide service over the next five days. 

Also joining the group for dinner was my good friend Merlina. Walfre would be our hired guide for the five day mule trip to visit the Maya ruins of El Mirador and I could not imagine ever wanting to go with anyone else other than him, since I had previously been on another trip with him and was quite impressed with his service.

The total price for the trip with Walfre was $278 USD for each person. Even though a person can easily do the trip with another guide in that area of Guatemala much cheaper, I knew Walfre Chi would take very good care of everyone in our group. One must keep in mind....You get what you pay for! 

Also, Walfre's price included round trip transportation from Flores to the village of Carmelita, pack mules for carrying our supplies and bags, a mule for each of those in our group to ride if they preferred not to walk or somehow got injured along the trail, two mule handlers, a cook to prepare our meals each day, hammocks and enough food/water to last the entire group for the duration of the trip.        

                                                                                                                               " The Adventure of a Lifetime"

                                                                  (The five day mule trip to visit the Maya ruins of El Mirador)

                                                                                                                                 Photos courtesy of Mary Gunn & Julia Shreve

Day 1 - Walfre picked me up at my hotel in Flores at 6:15 a.m. and we met the others in the group at Hotel Santana only a few minutes later. Once all of our bags were loaded into the back of his truck, we departed for the village of Carmelita at 6:30 a.m.. Along the way, Walfre stopped and picked up a 18 year old girl named Nancy, who would be our cook for the next five days while on the trip. It took us three hours to arrive to Carmelita in Walfre's truck and once there, we were all greeted by Dwayne Shreve who had arrived there the day before by chicken bus.

It took the mule handlers a little while to stuff our bags, food and water, and other necessary supplies into burlap bags and to strap them all down on the back of our pack mules as needed. Finally, we were ready to embark on the greatest journey in my lifetime. This is the trip I had been putting off for the past four years, because I did not feel I could physically do it since I normally weigh over 280 lbs.. 

The last thing I did before leaving Carmelita was drink a Stacker 2 "6-hour power drink" which contained 500 milligrams of vitamin B-12 and took three ibuprofen tablets. I figured the energy drink would help provide some extra energy along the way, considering I would need all the help I could get and the ibuprofen was for any muscle pain I might encounter as well.

We departed Carmelita at 10:30 a.m. and I decided to start the adventure by walking and along the way, I had to sit down briefly a few times to relieve a pinched nerve in my back which caused my left leg to become quite numb at times. Thankfully, the ibuprofen finally kicked in and my leg was fine. Also, the energy drink was working quite well and I could walk at a good pace, to stay ahead of the others in our group. 

Three of our members had decided to ride mules for the first part of the trip, so Rip Phillips and I were walking out in front of the mule train, which were for riding. The mules were all tied together by ropes, so if one mule stopped for some reason, the others would as well. By connecting all of the mules together like this, it also insured that one of the mules would not go running off by itself for some reason.

Rip and I stopped at the chiclero's campsite of Huacute to rest a bit after hiking for three hours and soon afterwards, the mule train arrived to join us. We had a small lunch there and rested a short while. We had been walking down a dirt road which trucks could navigate quite easily, from Carmelita to this particular campsite. After the chiclero campsite though, it was nothing more than a foot path for the rest of the way. Rip and I walked past many very small Maya ruin sites along the way as well as a few chultuns.

The small structures all had looter's tunnels dug into the side of them, from which looters many years earlier had stolen the artifacts that were still inside of them, for selling on the black market. The jungle path actually went directly through the middle of the structures, at times. Finally, Rip and I arrived to the campsite of the Maya ruins of El Tintal 1 1/2 hours later. All I wanted to do was lay down somewhere and was pleasantly surprised to find that the pack mules and mule handler had arrived to the campsite much earlier than we had and that he had already set up five hammocks for us once we all arrived. 

That hammock felt so good to lay in, because my legs and feet were hurting pretty badly from all the hiking that I did that day. Every muscle in my legs were kind of stiff and were a little sore. Most people do a good bit of cardiovascular training before going on such a journey as this, but I did not due to my laziness. Also, I had drank all of my water that I was carrying on my side along the way, which was a 1.5 liter bottle and was glad to arrive to the campsite for refilling my water bottle again. 

Rip and I rested in our hammocks for only ten minutes and were joined by the rest of the group once they all arrived to the campsite as well. After talking with Julia, I found out that she had fell from her mule once and afterwards, had tripped over a tree root which caused her to fall to the ground once again while walking along the trail. When Julia tripped over the tree root along the trail, the fall caused her to have a large bruise on one of her legs. Also, Mary had gotten some large blisters on the bottom of her feet while walking. Rip had a small blister on the heels of both his feet, but I was fine....surprisingly. Dwayne told me he was impressed with the fact that I had walked all the way from Carmelita to El Tintal, which actually surprised me as well. I never knew I had it in me!

Nancy had brought along her nine year old little sister Jacqueline for helping her cook and such and she was a joy to have around. After Walfre checked on our group to make sure that each of us were doing fine and were comfortable, he immediately started two fires for cooking with and helped Nancy in preparing our dinner while the rest of those in our group rested and talked. Nancy was preparing the chicken, vegetables and rice while Walfre was patting out and cooking a lot of tortillas for eating with our meal. 

I don't know about the others, but I was very hungry when Walfre told all of us in the group that dinner was ready. He did not have to tell me twice to come and eat and the food was very good too. As we were all resting in our hammocks after dinner, Rip and I noticed that the mule handlers were leading the mules into the jungle so they could eat as well. I thought to myself...what could they possibly eat out in the jungle? 

Come to find out, the mule handlers feed the mules leaves which they gather from ramon nut trees every night, while they are out in the jungle. I had heard of that particular tree before while reading books about the ancient Maya and knew they had used the nuts from that tree in many ways, which were beneficial to them. The ancient Maya planted the trees in forest gardens and they saw it as an important crop during times of drought, or when the corn harvest was poor. 

The nuts can be eaten raw or roasted. Traditionally though, the ancient Maya ate them boiled like potatoes, or ground into a flour for making tortillas with. The ramon nut tree is sometimes called by another common name; the breadnut tree. Also, the Maya name for that tree is "Yaxox". 

Everyone at the campsite of El Tintal was asleep before 9 p.m.. I know one thing....I had no problem falling asleep on that night and I slept like a baby too after I put my ear plugs in my ears. 

Day 2 - I was surprised to see that Nancy and Walfre were both up at 4 a.m., so they could start preparing our breakfast on that morning. We had scrambled eggs, refried beans, watermelon, tortillas and coffee. It was less food than I would normally eat for breakfast, but I really did not want to eat a huge breakfast anyway, considering I had a very long day of hiking ahead of me. The mule handlers packed up all of our supplies and strapped them to the mules once more. 

While they were doing this, I asked Walfre if it would be ok with him if Dwayne, Rip and I could get a head start by walking well ahead of the rest of the group and both mule trains. He allowed us to do so and only wanted to make sure we started on the correct path, which lead to the ancient city of El Mirador. After he showed us the correct path to take and I had taken four ibuprofen while chugging down another 6-hour energy drink, we were off once again. 

I was determined to walk all the way from Carmelita to the Maya ruins of El Mirador in two days, for I knew that all of my friends who I travel with each year would never believe it if I did so. We saw a lot of spider monkeys along the trail and heard quite a few parrots chirping as they flew above our heads. Also, we saw the skeletal remains of a mule on the side of the trail, that had perished on a previous trip. 

It was somewhat humid out there in the jungle, but since the jungle canopy blocks about 95% of the sun from hitting the jungle floor that we walked on, it was actually quite nice for hiking since we also had a slight breeze blowing in our faces most of the time. The jungle path was very clear most of the way, but there were quite a few times when we would have to step over a fallen log or over numerous tree roots which were above ground. Also, we did encounter other people along the trail, who were making the trip to El Mirador as we were.   

As Dwayne, Rip and I arrived to the chiclero's campsite which Walfre had told us that we would stop at for taking our lunch break at, I turned to Dwayne and asked him what the foul odor was, that we all could smell. Since Dwayne and I have each made numerous trips to the jungle before, I figured that maybe one of us might have a clue what the foul odor was. Neither of us had any idea what it was and it was only a matter of a few more seconds until we all seen what was causing the terrible odor. We had walked up on a herd of collared peccary, which is a type of wild hog that puts off a strong musk when alarmed. I know I will never forget that odor! 

The mule trains finally arrived about thirty minutes later and we all sat around and ate lunch, which consisted of sandwiches and watermelon. While we were sitting around eating and resting, I noticed that one of the riding mules was acting up a bit for some reason. So, one of the mule handlers named Orlando, kicked the mule pretty hard to make it behave. It worked, because the mule settled down afterwards. I feel the mules were mistreated at times, but then again, they don't belong to me. Also, Walfre had to refill my water bottle, because I had already drank half of it and we still had a long way to go that day.  

Rip and I decided to start hiking again ahead of the others, while Dwayne waited with the ladies to ride a mule for a bit. I took two more ibuprofen and we were off. I only had to stop and sit for relieving my pinched nerve in my back on two different occasions and then I was fine for the rest of that day. Rip and I talked a lot along the way and were like robots hiking through the jungle. I was not about to quit before I accomplished what I had set out to do. 

I sure was glad to be hiking with such a easy going and jolly fellow, because by laughing at him and with him at times, it helped me keep my mind off of my leg and feet pains. Also, I was sure to point out interesting things to Rip as we hiked along the trail, such as certain trees, birds, etc.. We did see three very beautiful birds along the way, which were Yucatan Jays as well as one keel-billed toucan. 

Finally, Rip and I topped a small hill and saw the Government posted sign of the Maya ruins of El Mirador. I was so happy that I had been able to walk all the way there, I kissed the sign with joy. Even though Rip and I had arrived to the site of El Mirador, we were merely on the outskirts of the city, which is as large as downtown Los Angeles, California. We still had another thirty minutes of hiking ahead of us, before we reached the campsite. That last thirty minutes of hiking was very rough, since I now had two small blisters on the back of both feet as some of the others in the group had. 

When Rip and I made it to the campsite at El Mirador, the first thing he did was take a shower, while I chose to lay in a hammock to rest my legs and feet. I had just walked sixty four kilometers (38 miles) in the past two days. I had sweated so much during the day, I could not believe how badly I smelled. So, I waited for my turn and also took a much needed shower and  I felt much better afterwards. Some people who do this five day trip, never even take a shower the entire time. I did not want to do this though, so had previously made arrangements with Walfre to bring along an additional mule for carrying ten gallons of extra purified water for our group to shower with.  Also, I did take a look at the visitor's guest book at El Mirador and saw that there had been only 1,410 people to visit the site in 2008 and 1,624 in 2009.  

I had Walfre help me set up my Hennessy Safari Deluxe hammock which I brought along for the trip. It was so much nicer than the ones which Walfre had provided for us, but this hammock I brought along for the trip was much more expensive than his were as well. There again...you get what you pay for! That hammock of mine could sleep two people if they were small enough, will accommodate a person who is seven feet tall and weighs 350 lbs., has it's own built-in mosquito net and even comes with a rain guard. I have to thank my good friend Skip Caldwell, for purchasing it for me at such a discounted price too.

After eating spaghetti for dinner which Nancy prepared for everyone in our group, Rip and I finally managed to get a fire started which we sat around for a few hours while we talked about various things. Rip manages golf courses for a living and it was quite interesting learning from him on what his job consisted of. It was actually a lot more detailed than what I had imagined. Dwayne was already asleep in his hammock, so he did not join our chat. By 9:30 p.m., Rip and I both could not hold our eyes open any longer and went to sleep as well.

Day 3 - I was woke up on this morning by lots and lots of berries falling onto my hammock, which were coming from up above in the trees I was sleeping under. I knew it had to be some kind of bird that was eating and dropping the berries onto me and my hammock, but could not see what they were until the sun came up so I could see them. Anyone that travels with me knows I really love to see all sorts of exotic birds while I am on my journeys and I had seen one particular variety of bird in my book before, which I always wanted to see in person someday out in the wild.

It turned out that this was my lucky day, because after the sun came up enough so that I could see what kind of birds they were, I was amazed to see what I saw. There were at least a dozen collared aracari eating in the trees above me and I watched them for quite some time, until a large hawk came flying by that scared them all away. The collared aracari is actually part of the toucan family and they are very pretty. You can view some photos of them here. I only wished I had brought my best camera with me on this trip, for taking a picture of the birds with my 300 mm zoom lense. I promise you this much...I won't go on another adventure trip without it!

After breakfast, we all walked around the huge ancient city of El Mirador. Our first stop was to view something that has only recently been discovered and restored. It was the famous Popol Vuh Frieze that was absolutely amazing to look at. We went onward to view some other structures there, which included the beautifully painted masks at Structure 34, the observatory and a ancient wall that surrounded the main part of the city. 

Finally, we walked up a very long causeway to see what is possibly the largest pyramid by volume in the entire World. After climbing many steps to get to the top of the main plaza there, we had arrived at the great pyramid of La Danta. It was massive! We climbed to the very peak of the pyramid and a person could see for at least fifteen miles across the top of the jungle, from it's summit. 

After we came back down to the bottom of the pyramid, we could see that there was a family of black howler monkeys eating up in the trees above us all. I did shoot some video of them, but did not get any photos of them. However, Rip took his camera to the top of an adjacent structure there and took many photos of the monkeys which were up in the trees and that were probably only ten feet away from him. Jacqueline also took Mary's camera to the top of the structure to take some photos of the monkeys for her as well. 

As we were walking back to the campsite for eating our lunch, we came up on something which covered the causeway we were walking on and that I had never experienced before during any of my past journeys. It was the largest group of army ants that a person could ever imagine and there were so many of them, not only did they turn the jungle floor black, but a person could actually hear them walking over the leaves and such. They moved very rapidly and I only felt sorry for any small animal or insect that crossed their path. 

After enjoying a nice lunch back in the campsite, Walfre filled the solar shower water bottle I had brought along for the trip with some of the extra water I had his mule handlers bring along with us on the journey, just for showering with. I told Walfre to lay it out in the direct sunlight in the small soccer field they have there at the site, where it could be heated up for taking a warm shower with later that afternoon when we all returned back to the camp from exploring the site some more. 

We all went out into the city once again for viewing two more very large pyramids. We first visited the large Lion Pyramid, which was a pyramid I had never even heard of before and I was amazed by the size of it. After leaving there, we went to the top of the El Tigre Pyramid, which had a view that was equal to the one from the summit of La Danta. At the top of this pyramid, is where I reached into my bag I was carrying for eating a freeze-dried ice cream sandwich. I offered some of the ice cream sandwich to the others in the group and it tasted just like the real thing, although it was not cold like one normally is.

Back at the campsite, we all re-dressed our blisters as needed and Mary and I each took turns showering with the extra water that had been heating out in the sunlight earlier that afternoon. I was the first one to use the water from the solar shower and it was not as hot as I had hoped it would be, but it was still quite warm and felt very good. The water bottle had actually had at least an hour or more to cool before we got back to camp, since the sun had already began to go down for the day and the water bottle had been in the shade.

Rip started a small fire before we ate our dinner, and afterwards, we all sat around the fire to talk about how amazing and rewarding the adventure had been, even though it was extremely difficult as well. As Julia Shreve had put it, this trip was definitely not for the faint at heart. Some of us in the group went out into the soccer field at the campsite for looking at the stars. I can tell you this much...I have never been able to see the entire solar system in the sky in my entire lifetime, such as this. I could even see the Milky Way Galaxy and most of the constellations. It was incredible!

Day 4 - We ate a nice breakfast which consisted of pancakes with coffee and all headed back towards the campsite of El Tintal. I decided to rest my feet and try my luck at riding one of the mules, which was supplied for me to ride if I wished. I was on a mule just behind Mary and we went around a small bend in the trail and her saddle slid to one side, which caused her to fall to the ground and she nearly hit a tree and rock on the way down. She could have been injured very badly from the fall, so she decided to simply walk afterwards instead. I could tell that her saddle was not quite tight enough, but the mule handler had cinched the straps on it as tight as he could.

After riding the mule for over four hours, my rearend was starting to hurt pretty bad. So, once we reached a small chiclero's campsite, I decided to get off the mule to hike a bit. I looked back at the mule I had been riding and it was swaying forward and backwards, from breathing so hard. I thought to myself..."Dang... That mule is so tired from hauling my fat butt up and down these hills for the past four hours, it looks like it is getting ready to pass out!" I felt so bad about that and I was determined to walk the rest of the way to El Tintal, so the mule could take it easy for the rest of the day. 

Once we arrived back to the campsite of El Tintal, I took a smallish shower or bath with a large bottle of water. Afterwards, Rip and I rested in our hammocks for a bit, before we were to do a little exploring of the Maya ruins of El Tintal. The main pyramid there is very tall and I could tell that the entire site was quite large as well, from looking at the map which is posted at the entrance of the campsite. I started a small fire and we all waited on dinner to be prepared for us that evening. 

Meanwhile, Walfre came over to talk with the group and had offered to hike out to the village of Carmelita that evening, so he could then drive his truck to the chiclero's campsite of Huacute, which was only 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from the campsite of El Tintal. He offered to do this because he knew that the majority of the group had blisters on their feet and that we were all very tired. So, he left out hiking and those in our group ate dinner and got some sleep for the night.

Day 5 - We were all awake at around 5 a.m. and were happy to see that Walfre had already made it back to our campsite. After talking with Walfre, we found out that he had hiked out to Carmelita the previous afternoon, then drove his truck to his home in the town of San Francisco. He told all of us that he had arrived to his home at 9 p.m. the night before, slept until midnight, then drove his truck back to the chiclero's campsite of Huacute. Afterwards, he hiked back to the campsite of El Tintal where he took a nap at 3:45 a.m. when he arrived. This type of service and hard work is why I would never want to go on such an adventure with any other guide in Guatemala!

We all ate a quick breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, refried beans, watermelon and tortillas with coffee and then departed for the chiclero's campsite of Huacute, where Walfre's truck was waiting for us. I walked the entire way there and was very happy to arrive to where he had parked his truck. We all tipped the mule handlers and cook very nicely before we departed and it was really nice to not have to walk or ride a mule for the remaining three hours of the trip. Also, Walfre had some Gallo beers waiting for us which were a little warm, so I did not have one for that reason and I don't particularly care for that beer anyways. 

Once arriving back to Carmelita, we ate a lunch at the tienda there, which Walfre had previously arranged for the group the night before. We had chicken soup with tortillas, and let me tell you, that chicken must have had a very eventful life as Dwayne Shreve put it, because it was tough as leather. I made the mistake of knocking my bowl of soup over, which ending up falling into my lap. So, I was covered in soup, rice and vegetables. It was quite hot too, I might add! Luckily, there was a hungry little kitten which was cleaning up the mess I made on the floor.   

Once back into the city of Flores early that afternoon, we all unloaded our bags and such and checked into our hotel rooms as needed. I decided to get a room at Hotel Sabana with a/c for $27/night, since I felt the need to pamper myself a little from being on such a rough trip the previous four days. Later that evening, everyone in the group had a farewell dinner at Restaurant and Pizzeria Capitan Tortuga. We had some good food and Merlina joined us as well.

It was truly the adventure of a lifetime and I am so glad that everyone made it back in one piece. Thanks to the guide service of Walfre Chi....it could not have been a better trip! Contact info: walfrechi@gmail.com or cell # 502 5361 2288.

L-R: Rip Phillips, Julia Shreve, Dwayne Shreve, Mary Gunn and Me.