Back                                                                                                             March 2010 Guatemala Trip

                                                                                                                                                           by Greg Vandiver

I flew down to Flores and arrived 3 days earlier than most of the others in our group, in order to make sure all arrangements were made as needed for the trip to visit 12 Maya ruin sites in the North Eastern Peten with my good friend and owner of The Mayan Adventure Tour Agency; Dieter Richter. I even went with Dieter to the grocery store and the farmer's market to help with purchasing our supplies as needed. 

I did have time to get in some fishing in Lake Peten-Itza and was lucky enough to catch a few fish, of which one was a 12" blanco, that I simply gave to a lady who worked at the hotel I was staying in for most of the trip. Also, I had the opportunity to go to my first semi-professional soccer game in San Benito, where Mictlan beat San Benito 3-0. 

I was surprised to meet and have dinner with an archaeologist named Markus Eberl who is a teacher at Vanderbilt University and who is also working at the Maya ruins of Tamarindito in the Petexbatun Region of Guatemala. I am fortunate to have been able to meet all sorts of architects and archaeologists, while on my trips to the area.

Everyone (who could) arrived for a late dinner at Cafe Yaxha on March 13th and we all got to know one another, as well as go over the itinerary which I had meticulously been planning for the previous year. I spent 45 minutes explaining to everyone what they should expect each day, such as alternating the order of those riding in each truck everyday so that when the trip was over, each person would have spent time with every single person in the group while riding from site to site during the 4 days of the trip. 

The group of 9 members included: Skip Caldwell, Dwayne Shreve, Diana Blanshey, Catherine Oliven and myself all from the U.S.A.. Also included were Eduardo Gonzalez and Brenda Blakely from Mexico, Merlina Barnes from Guatemala and Erik Christiansen from New Zealand. It was a wonderful group of people from many parts of the World.

Day 1 - The group met at Cafe Yaxha for an early breakfast, while part of our supplies were loaded in the trucks as needed by our three drivers: Manuel, Walfre and Tino. After fueling up the trucks, we were off to visit the first site of the day. We were to visit the Maya ruins of San Clemente and this would be the first time I had ever been there. The site was really nice and included some nicely restored temples and residential structures. One thing that really caught my eye was the king's throne located at the site.

After driving from El Remate to San Jose, we all arrived to the Maya ruins of Motul de San Jose. Once there, we had a decent lunch which consisted of sandwiches and lots of fresh fruit. There was even cold beer available for those who were interested. After lunch, we toured the small site a short while. Skip Caldwell was fortunate enough to see a large snake hanging from a tree limb, even though he was more or less face to face with the snake, after raising back up from tying his shoe laces. Luckily the snake did not bother him at all and slithered away. 

Everyone in our group made our way to the town of San Andres, where we hired a boat operator to take those in our group to visit a site nearby, which is on a private ranch. The site we would all visit was the Maya ruins of Nixtunchich. This particular site consists of a lot of temple mounds and possibly has the largest ball court in the Maya World...even larger than the ball court at Chichen-Itza! Everyone in our group enjoyed touring the site, even though there are no restored structures to see at the site. 

After talking with Eduardo about the site, he told me that he had found out while doing research on the internet that this particular site is where the Spanish Conquistadors camped and built their large boats, for crossing the lake and conquering the last Maya Empire in 1697, which was the ancient city the Spanish called Tayasal. Upon leaving the site, the boat operator was motioning for everyone in our group to quickly board the boat once more, for returning to the town of San Andres. 

As I had previously experienced while visiting the site of Nixtunchich, the wind had increased at the lake, which resulted in large waves that were dangerous to navigate by boat. After deciding that it would be too dangerous to go back to San Andres, the boatman took his boat and all those in our group to the Island of Flores, which he felt was much safer. 

Keep in mind....Tino and our 3 trucks were still in San Andres, so Walfre and Manuel still had to go back there to get their trucks after those in our group were safely in Flores. The person who had been worried the most about the high waves was Manuel, considering he could not swim at all, so I am sure he was glad when we reached the shores of Flores.

Day 2 - After a nice breakfast at Cafe Yaxha and the remainder of our supplies were loaded into the trucks as needed, we all headed to the border town of Melchor de Mencos for visiting a Maya ruin site just outside of town there. We were to visit the Maya ruins of Buenos Aires, which most of the group had never seen before. Afterwards, we went onward to visit a site that I had wanted to see very badly, since it is mentioned in the hieroglyphs at Caracol and Tikal. It was the Maya ruins of Ucanal.

Once we arrived to the entrance of the site, we found out that we would have to cross the Mopan River, in order to see the site. Luckily, there was a young man there who had a dugout canoe and he took all in our group to the other side....3 at a time. I did notice that there was a large hole in the front of the canoe, but it was not at the water level. Although he still had to bail water out of the canoe with a small bowl from time to time, due to leaks. I did notice that two local women were doing laundry in the river and luckily they did not mind photographs to be taken of them either. 

Once we were all across the river as needed, we all signed in at the guard house and entered the site. The site was larger than I had expected and there were many structures there, as well as stelae. One temple at the site had a large looter's tunnel dug into the side of it. Come to find out, the temple had collapsed 15 years earlier, entrapping two looters who were digging the tunnel. Till this day both people are still buried there! 

After visiting the site and having a decent lunch, we all headed to the Maya ruins of Tzikintzakan, which was on the way back towards the crossroads of Yaxha. We toured the small site till just before dark, then headed to El Sombrero Ecolodge where we would be staying for the night.

This was my first visit to the lodge and I enjoyed it very much. The double rooms were only $35 USD per night and there were showers available, even though they only had cold water. After tromping through the jungle on a hot and humid day, I actually prefer a cold shower. We all got cleaned up and ate dinner together. They do not have a big variety of meals at their restaurant, but it was sufficient for everyone in our group. If I remember correctly, they offered a few different soups, as well as various types of dinners. They even had cold beer available, even though all they had was the dreadful local favorite; Gallo.

Day 3 - Everyone ate a very skimpy breakfast at El Sombrero Ecolodge and headed out for the day. First stop would be the Maya ruins of Naranjo. This would be the third time I had visited the very large site and I was thankful that it had not rained in the area recently, due to the bajos and large muddy spots in the road that a person would normally have to drive through, to reach the site. There was a lot of archaeological work going on at the site and we were allowed to see numerous things, before they were to be covered back up again. 

After leaving the site of Naranjo, we went onward for trying to visit the Maya ruins of Pochitoca. We found some large trees across the road which had to be cut up with a large chain saw we had brought along, even though the chain on the saw was extremely dull and could barely cut a sapling tree into....much less a large tree. After deciding to turn around, we went nearby to visit the site of Poza Maya, which some in the group had never visited before. I helped the drivers prepare lunch for everyone, while the others toured the site.

After lunch we went onward to the last site for the day. Not only would we visit the Maya ruins of Nakum, but we would camp there for the night as well. While the drivers were setting up everyone's hammocks and making preparations for our dinner, the rest of us toured the site until it got dark. There were cold showers available at the site and I did notice that there were a total of 8 showers at the camp there. The spaghetti dinner that was prepared for everyone in the group was very good and there was plenty to go around as well. There was a lot of talk and laughter after dinner, until we all went to sleep. 

Day 4 - We were all awaken by the sound of rain and I was a little worried about how difficult the roads might be to drive on throughout the day, considering we were going to be traveling on some dirt roads that I had never been on before in that part of the country. As planned, we left Nakum to enter protected land to visit some sites for the day. 

Previously before the trip had started, Merlina and I had gone to the town of Ixlu, for getting permission from Sociedad Civil Para El Desarrollo "Arbol Verde" to enter their gate for crossing the land they controlled. They had given us a permission slip to present to the control commission or vigilantes, once we arrived there. 

Basically, Arbol Verde is a society of woodcutters, which also protect the area as well from poachers, drug traffickers and homesteaders. So, after presenting the permission form as needed, we were allowed to enter and cross the land for visiting some sites for the day. It was nice to hear from one of the vigilantes that someone had recently drove through the area in a car, so we all felt much better about the roads we would be driving on for the day, after knowing that. 

We only had a small problem with the 4-WD truck Manuel was driving, but even if the front axles would not engage for all-wheel traction, it would still do fine on roads that were in such good of shape as these were. 

We stopped along the way to visit a nice site which most people don't even know about. It was the Maya ruins of Dos Aguadas. Of course the structures at the site had previously been heavily looted, but we did find some amazing pottery shards which had the most wonderful murals on them. We left the site to go onward and at times, the road was so good it seemed like we were on a expressway. We could easily drive 45 mph on the road, most of the way. We only met one vehicle along the way, which belonged to the woodcutters. Also, we did see a hocofaisan and some wild turkeys while driving.

Finally, after hacking our way with a machete down a small side road, we arrived to the very large Maya ruins of Xultun. Upon arriving to the site, we were met by a grad student from the University of Pennsylvania named Franco. He was a nice young man that allowed everyone in our group to see what the workers were currently uncovering at the site, but asked that we not take photos of certain areas. 

We were all respectful of his request and left our cameras in the plaza nearby. There were some in the group who did not like being told what they could or could not take photos of, but it was no big deal to me. I tried to climb up a structure at the site, but unfortunately lost my footing which resulted in me twisting my ankle pretty badly. 

The site was quite extensive and we did tour most of the site, even though I could feel my ankle swelling in my boot. After a good lunch at the site, we headed onward to visit the last site of the day. The road was still in fairly good shape, but we had to drive really slow when we reached the Santa Fe bajo, which is quite large. Along the way, Tino had two flat tires on his truck, so we had used all our spare tires we had along for the trip. Thankfully, we did not have any other tire issues or we would have been in trouble.....way out in the jungle.

After three hours of driving, we finally arrived to the Maya ruins of Uaxactun. Everyone enjoyed the main part of the site, but some chose to go onward in one truck to visit the other part of the site located on the other side of the airstrip, which they had never visited before. As for me....I just sat on a log resting my ankle. I had taken my shoe off and my ankle was already turning blue and had swelled all it was going to. By now, I could barely walk....

We drove back towards Flores and we had noticed that Tino was all over the road. Come to find out, he could not see the road very well, since it was now dark outside and Eduardo was actually having to tell him to steer the truck right or left along the way. After watching this for a while and knowing how dangerous it could be for everyone in the truck with him, Walfre decided to signal for Tino to pull over, for letting someone else drive his truck back to Flores. 

Normally, I would have gladly taken his place, but could not do so, due to my twisted ankle. So, Catherine Oliven ended up driving the truck all the way back to Flores and we all had dinner at Cafe Yaxha, after arriving there.

Day 5 - Five of those in our group were to head out on another trip, while the others either stayed in Flores or simply made their way back to their home. Eduardo, Brenda, Diana, Erik and I were picked up at our hotel at 8 a.m. by Martsam Travel Agency and we were surprised to find out there was another man, named Mohit, who was to accompany our group for the next two days. Since there were at least five of us or more for the 2-day trip, the price for each person was only $190 USD.

Now, considering I had been hobbling around and it seemed I did not have very much to look forward to for the next two days except maybe doing some fishing, Eduardo asked our tour guide named Anselmo and the driver of the van to stop at a nearby pharmacy in the town of Santa Elena, to buy some medicine for me that would hopefully reduce the swelling in my ankle so I might be able to walk a little better. 

Eduardo explained to the lady at the pharmacy that I had twisted my ankle and that I needed some relief for it. The lady sold Eduardo some anti-inflammatory pills, as well as some sports creme. I immediately took one of the 12-hour anti-inflammatory pills, with hope that it would provide some relief for my swollen ankle. We left out for the 2 1/2 hour van ride to the K'ekchi Maya village of Paso Caballos and once arriving there, were pleasantly surprised to find that one of the workers from Las Gucamayas Biological Station named Geovanni Tut was waiting for us at the river in a boat that belonged to the station.

Geovanni took all of us up the San Pedro River towards the Biological Station and was sure to point out crocodiles and various birds along the way. He even stopped at times so we could take pictures of them. We saw lots of people from the village along the way who were fishing or washing their clothes in the river. 

After arriving to the Biological Station, we were greeted by Maria, who also works there as well. She was all smiles when we arrived and I could tell she was very happy to have us as their guests. There was another young man who worked there, named Alfredo, who saw that I was having trouble walking and offered to help me make it up to the lodge where I could sit down.

We were showed to our rooms and after everyone had settled in, we enjoyed a nice lunch prepared by the workers there. The lunch consisted of vegetable and chicken soup with refried beans, rice, home made tortillas and tamarindo to drink. Also, we were offered fresh watermelon for dessert. 

After the meal, the others all went to "The Mirador" nearby for getting a good view of the area, while I simply sat on the porch of the lodge and took pictures of all sorts of birds as they came near. I was lucky to have seen a few collared aracari, painting buntings, black-headed trogons and even a fox. Anselmo spoke very good English and he had a lot of knowledge of the plants and animals of the area. He showed me a leaf from a Guarumo tree and explained to me that sometimes the locals would roll it up in paper to smoke, for experiencing a "high" similar to marijuana. In Belize, the people call this a "tobacco tree".  

For dinner that evening we had eggs, refried beans, fried plantains, white cheese and coffee. This was a typical meal in the area and it was good too! Afterwards, we were treated to a presentation about the work that goes on at the Biological Station, such as the surveying of scarlet macaw's nests in the area as well as the numerous photographs from the trail cameras showing many of the animals in the area, such as: jaguars, tapir, deer, peccary, etc.. Everyone in the group really enjoyed seeing all of the photos and hearing the various stories about how all the people who worked there at the lodge had gotten their jobs. 

As an additional treat, Geovanni took all of those in our group who were interested, for going out in the boat at 8 p.m. to spot light for crocodiles. We did see a few, but they were rather shy and wasted no time to plunge from the logs they were resting on into the water, shortly after we shined the spot light on them. Once back at the lodge, I took my second anti-inflammatory pill and went to bed. Already my ankle was feeling much better and I could tell a difference in my ability to walk better. 

Day 6 - After eating a hearty breakfast of pancakes and fried plantains, I surprisingly found myself being able to walk nearly as well as anyone else in the group. So, I decided to make the 12 km. round-trip hiking trip with everyone else in the group to visit the Maya ruins of El Peru (Waka') and it was very important for me to do so, since this would be Eduardo Gonzalez's 100th Maya ruin site to personally visit. Nothing was going to stop me from being there with him either, for celebrating. 

We did see some artificial scarlet macaw nests along the way and I did get some photos of a black howler monkey, as well as a blue crested mot mot. The hike to the site was very nice and peaceful as well. Upon arriving to the site, we were met by the guards who were stationed there, as well as one of the biologists who was working in the area. The Maya ruins of El Peru was very important in Maya history and even though many of the stelae are defaced at the site or eroded tremendously, it's still a magical place to visit. 

When we arrived to Plaza 4 at the site, a lot of strange things started to happen to Eduardo. First, his necklace which he always wears on his adventures that has a pendant of the great king (Pacal) of Palenque, suddenly fell apart from his neck and scattered all over the jungle floor. While looking for all of the pieces of his necklace, a tree branch fell from above and hit him on the head. 

Finally, and upon leaving the plaza, he tripped over a stone and nearly hurt himself from the fall. I don't know if it was a bad omen or what, but I can tell you this much....Eduardo left that particular plaza as soon as he could with fear of something else happening to him. 

After arriving back to Las Guacamayas Biological Station, we were served a wonderful lunch of lomito, boiled vegetables, home made tortillas and some sort of citrus punch. Once again, we were offered fresh watermelon as a dessert. We made our way back down river to the village of Paso Caballos where our minivan was waiting for all of us to make the 2 1/2 hour trip back to Flores. It was a great trip with some wonderful friends. (old and new)

(Group Photo courtesy of Brenda Blakely)

Las Guacamayas Biological Station contact info: 

Email - info@lasguacamayasbiologicalstation.com 

Phone numbers - (502) 7882-4427 or (502) 7867-5093 or (502) 5705-6904.

The service and food was wonderful at the Las Guacamayas Biological Station and no matter which meal it was.....we were offered additional portions of food, of whatever they had left. I highly recommend this place for anyone who wants to get away and experience all sorts of wildlife, relaxation, as well as great local food. 

Also, a person can only imagine how tranquil it is to stay at Las Guacamayas Bilogical Station, unless they actually stay there and experience it for themself! The bathrooms and showers were very nice as well. In the future, I may stay at the Biological Station for a few days and enjoy the tranquility, as well as do some fishing in the river, for relaxation and enjoyment.