Jungle Fever

Part 1.

After a solid night of sleep after our jungle adventure, I think I’m rested enough to describe our trip.

We left Belize on Saturday and crossed into Guatemala. Border crossings are all similar and involve two things: lines and paperwork. This was no exception. We actually have to import and export our vehicles upon entering/exiting so this can take a couple of hours. My dad installed a printer in his truck and it’s really been helpful (photocopies, scanning, etc).

The main “highway” from our border crossing to the town of Flores was a dusty, potholed road that nearly shook my fillings out. Massive craters littered the road and it was almost like driving through a slalom course with all the swerving one had to do. After hitting Flores we enjoyed some Guatemalan chinese food and waited for our guide, Cyril to show up.

Cyril is a Frenchman residing in Guatemala who happens to have corresponded with Scott and agreed to be to lead the expedition. He also has a beautiful mint Range Rover. Europeans travel in style.

After finally getting everything together and soon after leaving we hit the jungle. This road was real deal - it was muddy, narrow, and enclosed by vegetation. Apparently once the dry season hits, they grade the road and 18-wheelers barrel through to do logging. I wouldn’t want to run into one of those on the road.

We didn’t make it into camp until nearly 10:30 that night. Progress was a bit slow and driving through the dark in the jungle is quite the experience. Cyril has been leaving here in Central America for quite some time so he has learned to drive like a local - extremely fast. This even extends to trail driving. Unfortunately for him, we couldn’t quite keep up.

By the time we hit camp, we were all exhausted. Dinner was a few beers and some peanut butter on crackers. I had a good time picking Cyril’s brain about various facts about the jungle. Right after he described the difference between cattle mutilated by a puma and cattle mutilated by a jaguar we started hearing a horrific noise off in the distance. We didn’t find this out until morning, but the cause of the ruckus was howler monkeys. These things are louder then you can imagine. I just found out that they are the loudest animal on land.

The next day is when we started encountering real action. The morning was a lot of fun and I got to hit some serious mud in my truck. After lunch, everything changed.The trail we hit had been abandoned for a year.