Jungle Fever Pt. 2

The next morning we had the opportunity to explore the Mayan City of Nakum. This city is still being actively excavated and renovated. The buildings are beautiful - they look much more authentic then what we had seen before. Many of the reconstructions we have seen were done in the ‘60s and ‘70s and use modern cement and building techniques, which takes away from their overall look. Scientists have been able to reconstruct the recipe of Mayan cement and this is being used to restore Nakum.

The archeologists have done a fantastic job excavating the structures as well - the site looks much more natural then many of the others we’ve seen. There’s still plenty more to find - there are dozens of mounds which are actually buried Mayan buildings littering the site. We encountered a very nice Spanish team of architects and chatted with them for a few minutes.

Then it was time to load up the trucks and head into the jungle for some overlanding. I had a fantastic time plowing through muddy trails and scraping through narrow spots. The other Jeep got stuck and we did get to break out our winching gear for a quick rescue session.

The turn-off onto the trail was totally overgrown. We actually drove right past the entrance because it was so overgrown. In hindsight, we should have known that this would be the exception rather then the norm.

As soon as we hit the trail, we knew things were going to get a little interesting. The pace was slow as vegetation had to be hacked away and trees were blocking the road regularly. I initially sat in the truck with my Dad and really had no idea what was going on up ahead. After an hour or two I decided to go offer some help to Scott, James, and Cyril who were attempting to clear the vegetation from our path.

It was hot, sweaty, hard work. I was mostly support at first - Scott and James would swing machetes and clear minor vegetation while Cyril would carry the chainsaw in case we came to any fallen trees. We went on like this for hours. I was able to shoot some footage for Scott as he guided a Jeep through a tight spot. I even got the chance to swing a machete for a while. These things take some experience before one becomes proficient at swinging it. I soon discovered that the key to using a machete effectively was efficiency - swing only at what’s important or you will quickly tire out your arm.

This continued until about 9:00 PM. I became a flashlight caddy for one of our expedition members as he hiked ahead to clear minor vegetation. It’s quite an experience to have only a dying Maglite and a headlamp for illumination in the pitch-black jungle. Night time in the jungle is also incredibly noisy - you have insects, birds, and nocturnal mammals all becoming active. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first but quickly became used to it.

We were ravenous by the time we reached camp. Cyril came to the rescue - he had brought his gaucho (basically an Argentinean cowboy) grill and ten pounds of Argentinean meat. We feasted.

I should discuss our campsite. We camped in what was the main plaza of the Mayan town of Holmul. The thing was, our campsite was almost completely unexcavated. There were two enormous mounds which were actually temples to either side of us.

When morning hit, the group spent some time poking around the ruins before we hit the trail. It was supposed to be 5 hours until we were back to our starting point, but it turned out to be more like 10 hours. We didn’t emerge from the jungle until 4 or 5 at night. By the time we reached Flores it was 7:30 PM.

There’s nothing like eating at a Guatemalan PIzza Hut after driving through the jungle all day. I nearly ate an entire large thin crust Pepperoni pizza myself. It was much too late to try to find a campsite so we decided a hotel was our best option.

Thus ended our jungle adventure.