El Mirador
To watch a very informative blog I have made about my own experiences of El
Mirador just click here. This blogs contains very practical information on what to bring and also a more specific part on the history of El Mirador…
To watch a really good documentary by Nat Geo click here
El Mirador is considered the oldest Mayan city and counts with the highest Mayan temples of all..
One of the other temples is El Tigre and is in base volume considered the biggest temple in the world!
Check out this CNN item for more insight in size and importance:
I did the tour last year and it was astonishing! It was one of the most beautifull parts of Central America I had ever seen!
Very special is the fact that it is so far away from civilized world… Completely hidden in the jungle.. As if it has just been discovered yesterday! The feeling you have standing on top of the Danta pyramid seeing nothing but jungle around you, is undescribable!
The trip to El Mirador is no picknick! You have to suffer a bit to get there! Some days you have to walk up to 7 hours a day crossing 30 kilometers of jungle in a day! So those considering doing this tour should be in average to good physical shape and ready for some real action!
D
uring the 5 or 6 day trip one walks together with a local guide who explains about flora and fauna, prepares three meals a day and sets up the camp at night. You sleep in tents.
If you do the tour in 5 days, you walk two days to El Mirador, you spend the third day to explore the ruins and then you walk back to La Carmelita for two more days.
Those who want to do the tour in six days will visit two more Mayan sites besides El Mirador called Nakbe and La Florida. The advantage of doing the six day tou
r is that the way back is on a new and different trail.
Specific details of the tour:
We are known in organizing our tours by offering a high standard service to all our guests.
Being out in the dense jungle in the middle of nowhere is a huge responsability and we try to leave nothing to coincidence. Which means a good planning…
We offer the following service:
Yu get picked up from your (hopefull ours !) hotel at 6.00 am by private transportation. When the road is good you will arrive around 8.30 am. (In the rainseason you´ll arrive more or less around 9.30 am in La Carmelita because the roads can be more muddy) Carmelita is the last village that separates mankind from wilderness.
Once in Carmelita we include a delicious typical breakfast. Meaning fresh hand made tortillas on the stove.
At 10:30 you´ll start leaving Carmelita for your first day hiking to the ruins of El Tintal where you´ll spend your first night sleeping at the foot of the temples. The first day hike is 6 hours on a average pace. (18 kilometers)
On the way you´ll have plenty of stops to retrieve energy with fresh fruit and sandwiches which our guide will prepare for you. You´ll arrive right on time in Tintal to see sunset from the top of the temple with a fresh breeze…
When you come down our guide will have your camp set… You´ll sleep in good quality tents with thick inflatable matrasses… Remember, after hiking for so long you want to have a good matrass and not sleep on hard ground or on dirty thin sticky matrasses.
Dinner will be prepared by the guide and his assistant varying from veggies and rice to beans, spaggetis and eggs… Basically simple high carbonated food (remember, you´re out in the jungle) but out of experience… things taste so much more delicious when you´re out in nature! And ask your guide to pick you some oldspice leafs for a delicious tea! Dinner Mayan style!
Next day, breakfast is served at 6.00 am. You start walking at 7.00 am to make the second hike of 24 kilometers. (On average pace 7 to 8 hours walking.)
Of course on the way we´ll make plenty of stops to rest, eat and enjoy the rich flora and fauna of this natural wonder.
About an hour away from El Mirador, you´ll arrive at the entrance gates of the Lost City of El Mirador called La Muerta. (if you still have no idea how big El Mirador was, have you seen the movie Apocalypto by Mel Gibson? The movie is nowhere near the truth but he got one thing well investigated. Mel Gibson actually went several times to El Mirador and the end scene where they get captured and send to this big city is based on his visits to El Mirador…. It is safe to say that El Mirador must have been THAT SIZE… Not necesarily that primitive and violent if you ask me. But hey, Hollywood and Mel Gibson… But just for fun see his interpretation of the city: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiGpL69T8aw&feature=related
Well let´s go back to our tour:
The second day early afternoon you´ll arrive at the base camp of El Mirador. Time to rest. After a few hours lounging you can go up to the highest temples of all Mayan sites: La Danta, 72 meters high, to watch the best sunset of your lifetime.
Come down in utter peace and your guide will have again a delicious meal ready around the camp fire.
On the third day you can explore the Mirador city. It is enormous. You´ll easily walk another 6 hours discovering the most important temples like La Danta, El templo de Los Monos, El Tigre and many more structures.
Once you have explored El Mirador you can focus on the way back…
I can be short on this because unless you take the 6 days hike where you will visit the ruins of Nakbe and La FLorida you will simply hike the same way back.
So 4th day you´ll hike the 8 hours back to El Tintal. Don´t be discouraged though. Remember, you´re still in pristine nature. Mirador is home to a very diversified and exotic flora and fauna. Mirador is home to 5 of the 6 species of cats found in Guatemala and is the largest Jaguar preserve in Central America with an estimate of 500 to 600 jaguars living in the dense forests.
El Mirador is known to posses between 7 and 10 % of all known forms of live and 17 % of all terrestrial species. The region is among the most biologically diverse on the planet.
On the 5th day you´ll start hiking early and you´ll reach La Carmelita around 11.00 am. We will include again a typical village lunch! Yummie, finally that ICE COLD drink!
Our private car will be ready to bring you back. You´ll reach Flores around 15.00 on the 5th day! Time to jumo in the lukewarm waters of our lake and reflect on this once in a life time experience.
So just to make sure you don´t forget: The tour to El Mirador includes food, water, tents with inflatable mattresses, guide, guide’s helper, the packhorses and the private transportation.
Just one last point of attention. If you are mrs princes on the pee, don´t take this tour. Yes, we will do everything within our reach to have this be an amazing experience for you, but no we can not control musquitos, thicks, rain, heat and thunder. (but I am working on it)
The prices for a 5 days tour are (in US dollars):
An important update made in November 2011!
Things have changed in the last weeks. What happened is that the association of Carmelita (the village from which one leaves to El Mirador) has organized itself with the INGUAT (the Guatemalan Comitee for Tourism) and they have made set prices for the tours. This means that wheter you buy the tour from Carmelita itself (if you would just go there on your own) or buy it at Los Amigos or with any of the other tour operator, they will all offer you the same prices because they will all have to pay the set prices that Inguat has obligated.
This means a slight price increase for you guys, which we at Los Amigos are very sorry about. However the price increase does mean higher salaries for the guides, the assistants and the village people and part of this money will also be used for maintaining paths and protecting the temple site and forrest.
We will at all times try to offer you with the best service, the best guides and reliable gear… Please take a look at the prices listed below…
(minimum 2 persons)
2 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 420 p.p
3 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 350 p.p
4 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 325 p.p
5 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 275 p.p
6 persons or more: Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 250
The prices for a 6 days tour are:
(Minimum 2 persons)
2 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 440 p.p
3 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 370 p.p
4 persons: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 345 p.p
5 persons or more: Â Â Â Â Â Â $ 295 p.p
We can arrange these tours up to one day in advance. The more people are going, the lower the prices. If you are interested come and talk to Matthias or Jeronimo at Los Amigos. If you want to go, just come by the hostel and talk to us at the bar. Make sure you talk to us directly otherwise we have to give commissions to middle men which raises the price for you.
If you want to reserve a tour in advance with us please email us. Send an email directed to Maria Fernando and she will give you all the information you need!
