Hiking to Nowhere

Jim and I spent five days last week hiking to El Mirador, the oldest and largest Mayan ruin in the world. Because the site is in the middle of nowhere, one has to hike two days to get there. And since one does not want to live there, one also must hike two days back to catch a bus to the real world. That left us with one day of exploring the ruins, which was enough because not much is excavated. What we did see were the tops of several temples. The temples each have three stories; usually only the highest story is excavated. Since the land around the ruins is flat, we had amazing views on all sides once we climbed to the top.

Getting to the site caused us much pain and suffering. First we had to buy food for the five days. Our guide wanted seven bags of rice and six rolls of toilet paper. Hmmmmm. After some respectful complaining (since we were paying after all), we ended up with six bags of rice and four rolls of toilet paper. We only used two bags of rice and one roll of toilet paper. There was also pasta, canned sausages, tomato sauce, eggs, and tortillas. We bought all those items within reason so we had very little or none remaining. Considering we were in the middle of nowhere, we ate very well! And to our guide's credit, he made some marvelous meals over the camp fire.

Thankfully, a mule carried all our food and bedding, so Jim and I only had to carry our packs. That was good since we had to wear rain boots because the ground was so muddy. Of course, the boots had terrible support and killed the feet. Half-way through the first day of hiking and only 10 miles into the 38 mile trip (one way), Jim and I would make comments like, "I can't feel my legs any more," I can't wait to sit on a bus--even that chicken bus--because I will be sitting down," and "I am considering breaking my own legs so I have to ride on the mule." The return trip was less painful, or maybe we were just more tolerant of the pain.

One of the bright sides was that Jim loves to have access to ample snacks for any trying situation. I managed to carry most of the snacks in my pack, and since I had no fear of gaining weight after hiking 80 miles round trip, I had no problem with lightening my backpack along the way!