Donate NowYesterday we completed our two-day return hike from El Mirador to Carmelita. The bajos again felt muddy and endless, but with the help of an early start and a mule ride, we made it out. On our own, without the archaeologists for the first time in many days, our group of four felt small.
On our return, we were guided by Mauricio, a Salvadoran immigrant who knew the woods more by instinct than by experience (he had only been all the way to Mirador once). Mauricio grew up in western El Salvador, where he was drafted into the military at age 14. He spent four years in the Air Force as a parachutist and parachute instructor, working his way up to sergeant. When El Salvador's civil war ended, it was no longer safe for him to return home because of his military experience, and he began years of transient work in Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States. His two daughters from a previous marriage are in Mexico, but his work still takes him all over. He only returns to El Salvador to visit his parents on occasion; he prefers to stay away ...