It’s nighttime, and archaeologist Richard Hansen rests in the middle of the jungle, in the El Mirador watershed in Peten. One of the workers observed from afar: “What’s going on, Felipe?” asks the scientist. “I want to tell you something: for the first time in the 68 years of my life, I have hope.”
Hope is the engine that is uniting people’s efforts to develop El Mirador, which, with its 3,300 square kilometers of wilderness areas and archaeological reserves, promises to become the new tourism jewel of Guatemala.
The site comprises more than 200 archaeological sites, of which at least 10 are larger in size than Tikal. The world’s largest pyramid was built there; La Danta has a volume of 2.8 million cubic meters, and a height of 72 meters.
The area is a sanctuary for biodiversity, and contains over 300 species of trees and another 2,000 minor plant species.
In the midst of such wealth, 10,000 people around the site remain in poverty, collecting xate, gum, and pepper. This basin inspired the biggest Guatemalan businessmen to create the Guatemalan Foundation for Maya Cultural and Natural Heritage (Pacunam).
The foundation is fundraising previously unheard-of amounts, which have been made by entrepreneurs through the Global Heritage Fund, a U.S. organization that supports development initiatives, as a counterpart, in places that are cradles of civilization.
Cementos Progreso, Wal-Mart Central America, Industrial Bank, the Central American Brewery Group, Pantaleon, Disagro, Telgua, and Citi are the first members of Pacunam, which was created to promote the support of large corporations in Guatemala, Central America, and globally, for major development projects. The first of these is El Mirador.
The archaeological restoration of El Mirador, backed by Pacunam, is running in parallel with a government project announced last May by President Alvaro Colom: the creation of Four Balam, the largest archeological park in Latin America, at the heart of which lies El Mirador.
With an area of 18,000 to 22,000 square kilometers, the project would generate 9,000 jobs and attract more than 3,000 tourists per day in the Department of Peten. According to government projections, by 2023 some 12 million tourists will have visited the new archaeological park, which Colom has promised will be ready before the end of his term.
One of the innovations of the proposed El Mirador site, which is headed by Richard Hansen, Director of the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), is that this site is only being renovated with technology that restores the facades of the buildings, while allowing the rest of the pyramids to remain covered by the jungle.
“We founded Pacunam with the vision of having the project belong to the companies. Only by joining forces could we advance this initiative, which is the largest one that Guatemala and possibly Central America could have in the area of tourism development,” noted Jose Miguel Torrebiarte, director of Cementos Progreso.
Fernando Paiz: A Great Dream
Fernando Paiz Andrade is also chairman of the board of Wal-Mart Central America, one of the largest corporations in Central America, as well as a lover of the archaeology.
His interest in the Maya culture led him to build a relationship of friendship and support with archaeologist Richard Hansen, the discoverer of El Mirador.
When referring to the contributions that El Mirador is generating for Maya history, Paiz displays his deep knowledge of the subject. It is a wonderful archaeological discovery, he says; it is said to be one of the new wonders of the world.
“El Mirador basin has seven cities that are larger than Tikal, all of which are 1,000 to 2,000 years older; with buildings that are much bigger than what had previously been known in the country, this is raising questions about the entire timeframe of Mayan periods,” he explained.
Regarding the Pacunam Foundation and the El Mirador Project, Paiz Andrade stressed that “this is a model that is repeatable, which ensures that, when you have projects of regional and national importance, they can be achieved,” he said. To date, the funds contributed by the companies, and matched by the Global Heritage Foundation and the FARES Foundation, have reached $5 million. These unprecedented sums have already been invested in conservation, archaeological studies, and research. Nevertheless, by 2010, an additional US $6 million are projected to be invested in El Mirador, in partnership with the foundations that support the project.
El Mirador is at the heart of the Four Balam Park. The area that president Colom spoke of extends from Rio Azul – on the border with Belize – up to the other side of Peten, where there are a number of archaeological sites with ancient cities.
According Paiz Andrade, the president proposed that an electric train enter the park. The reason for this is that there are some very interesting examples – such as Machu Pichu – where access to an archeological site is by train. Sustainable tourism entails removing trash from the hotel that operates at the site.
The project is not merely about archaeology, or merely tourism or environmentalism. Rather, there is a community that demands sources of income, and if it does not support what we do, the project is going to fail.
This plan is already beginning to operate. From the community of Caramelita, one can hike to El Mirador, or mountain-bike there, across 60 kilometers of jungle. It is one of the favorite routes in the world of those who practice extreme sports. This path is already functional, but sidewalks and access ways for pedestrians have yet to be built. Therefore, it takes three days to do the tour during the winter, says the businessman.
Paiz Andrade indicates that Pacunam is not a closed club, and that he would love to attract other companies to support the project. We seek to attract a million new tourists a year to Peten; to do so, we must have a destination that is worth visiting. This is the first task – the archaeological work of ensuring that the site is beautiful and has impressive things to see; then we must uncover and restore the facades of buildings.
Next, we need to improve access ways, and then work on the infrastructure of signs inside the park. Finally, we must attract hotel concessions for developing sustainable tourism, he concluded.
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