overlander
Expedition Leader
As El Hefe walks towards us with a few of his bumbling posse henchmen with him, Graham tells us to hang by the Defenders, and calls for Byron to join him. They meet the group mid-way and begin having what appeared to be a calm conversation in Spanish. After a few dramatic pauses, a lot of hand waving and pointing all over the place, they break. James and Byron come back down and brief us on what transpired. Apparently, El Hefe challenged James with his right to access the Naxxtun site. Although James had government permission to be there, it is highly restricted and El Hefe has some local authority (although not enough to trump the permission James has). Since it was 2012 with the Mayan calendar on the worlds mind, there was a large Guatemala government focus to highlight Guatemala as a travel destination. El Hefe was leading a team with some Journalists in a convoy of Hiluxes to the Naaxtun site, which was the same team that had passed us on the first trail day. James’ gut told him that El Hefe was likely either trying to show bravado to the journalist team in his authority, or that he was trying to exploit a bribe. Either way, it didn’t work. James, who is very well connected to the Guatemala government due to his business, as well as Byron who owns a 4WD center in Guatemala City and is part of the countries 4WD club, were way to savvy for our little friend.
More interestingly, through the discussion, they learned that El Hefe was taking the journalists to Naaxtun to do some filming for the government marketing effort. After they had passed us, one of the Hiluxes carrying the female journalists broke down in the middle of the jungle somewhere along the way, so they were actually returning for parts, supplies or something. Not exactly sure what. They didn’t have the seats to bring everyone out, so some of the crew, including the female journalists had been left in, if I recall correctly, a chicalera camp until they could return for them. What a debacle! Those are some lucky ladies there. Land Rover 1, Toyota 0. I know it’s a rare event, but I couldn’t help but think of the cliché “slow and steady wins the race!” There’s something to say for winching over an obstacle in a controlled manner versus throttle and bravado when you are far from civilization.
They continue past us, and with that, we pack up and continue on our merry way with renewed confidence.
A few downed trees here, a few dropped vines there, and soon, just as James had expected, we see the first sign of the Naaxtun government campsite used for site survey.
As we approach, we are pleased to see that we are alone! We find a nice clearing to the left as we enter and park the Rovers. All of our clothes are pretty much soaked at this point, and there’s a bit of sun in the clearing that’s making it through the canopy overhead. What a treat to get some sun after 2 days in the darkness! First priority is lunch!
More interestingly, through the discussion, they learned that El Hefe was taking the journalists to Naaxtun to do some filming for the government marketing effort. After they had passed us, one of the Hiluxes carrying the female journalists broke down in the middle of the jungle somewhere along the way, so they were actually returning for parts, supplies or something. Not exactly sure what. They didn’t have the seats to bring everyone out, so some of the crew, including the female journalists had been left in, if I recall correctly, a chicalera camp until they could return for them. What a debacle! Those are some lucky ladies there. Land Rover 1, Toyota 0. I know it’s a rare event, but I couldn’t help but think of the cliché “slow and steady wins the race!” There’s something to say for winching over an obstacle in a controlled manner versus throttle and bravado when you are far from civilization.
They continue past us, and with that, we pack up and continue on our merry way with renewed confidence.
A few downed trees here, a few dropped vines there, and soon, just as James had expected, we see the first sign of the Naaxtun government campsite used for site survey.
As we approach, we are pleased to see that we are alone! We find a nice clearing to the left as we enter and park the Rovers. All of our clothes are pretty much soaked at this point, and there’s a bit of sun in the clearing that’s making it through the canopy overhead. What a treat to get some sun after 2 days in the darkness! First priority is lunch!
