Guatemala: Under the Mayan Sky | Deadliest Journeys

In this small Guatemalan town, market days are a joyful occasion, especially for those working in transport, such as 18-year-old Anthony. This tuk-tuk driver is bound to make good money. Always with a smile on his face, Anthony is one of those wonderful people for whom nothing is ever a problem, not even taking steep paths with an engine that's not suited for the job.

They're going to Calum. It's a remote village perched high in the mountains. They're terrified because the road is awful, but we have no choice.

To reassure them, Anthony has a strategy. He distracts them by asking question after question endlessly. What are the problems you face that make your life difficult?

We don't have a road here. What do you do for a living? What kind of business do you have?

Do you feel safe? Do you have any medical supplies? What about you and your wife?

Do you get along well? How is your family? You have children, don't you?

The more he talks, the more he gets the opposite effect. This is the first time I've driven up this mountain. My tut-tuk could fall into the ravine at any moment!

He should watch the road and drive his tuk-tuk more slowly. Otherwise, we risk not getting there at all. It takes a bit of courage, but tuk-tuks and pickups are the only vehicles that can reach the villages up in the mountains.

It took them three hours to get to this one. Three hours being jostled about that brings Anthony just €5. This amount may sound ridiculous, but it's ten times more than in the city.

That's why the young cab driver takes a daring gamble, turning the mountains into his new hunting ground. It might not be such a good idea, though. Guatemala is the most densely populated country in Central America, yet there are great disparities.

There are almost 200 inhabitants per square kilometer in the center, compared to fewer than three in the north. This territory is almost entirely covered by the great rainforest, a hostile environment that these two shamans are trying to cross. I've never traveled in this much mud.

We're having mud bath in the jungle. An inevitable sacrifice to reach one of the highest Mayan pyramids in order to honor the gods at its summit. While Guatemala protects a large proportion of its forests, the same cannot be said of its coasts.

Some rivers pour real tsunamis of plastic into the sea at an unstoppable pace. The pollution is unimaginable, and it's killing the wildlife. The pollution contaminates everything.

However, there is something even more terrible. This pollution provides a means of survival for some. Little hands hunt down the smallest scraps of metal and plastic on the landfill to sell to recyclers.

I can help my mother with the money I earn here. The Mayans have not disappeared. Their strength and wisdom are rooted in their descendants.

No one should be ashamed of their work. Those who work shall be rewarded. In Guatemala, every valley, every mountain, and every town still bears traces of the Mayan civilization.

Chichicastenango was one of their mightiest cities. Churches may stand in the place of the old temples today, but the Mayan spirit is still very much alive. I now invoke the great volcanoes.

Oh, great plains! Oh, great mountains! I summon you, volcano of fire, volcano of water.

The priests are invoking the gods incarnate in these mountains. They need divine authorization for the two of them to begin their great journey. Tomás, the man with the hat, is not dressed up for the role, but he's a shaman.

He's taking Eric, his disciple, on the most perilous pilgrimage of this land. That is, if the gods and deities of the two merged religions agree. The ceremony we're performing in this cemetery is part of my apprenticeship.

Oh, gods, come take your places and rejoice. Receive the offering of Eric, your disciple. Give him the strength to complete his journey.

Let him be guided by a star all his life. I ask and implore you through this ceremony. I feel their energy.

I've heard the call of our ancestors, and I'm proud to follow their voice. Suddenly, the fire begins to swirl, a sign that the gods approve of their odyssey to their ancestors' temple. Eric, are you spiritually ready for this long journey?

We'll go all the way to the pyramids of the country's most isolated Mayan city, El Mirador. Yes, I'm ready. The shaman and his disciple head for the Mayan city of El Mirador.

Over 2,000 years of history and ten days of arduous travel await them. The city is not yet open to mass tourism, so the trails leading to it don't undergo any maintenance at all. We don't know what the road is like, but our driver says it's muddy.

I'll do my best, but the car won't suffice. If there's too much mud, you'll have to walk. It's the only way to make it.

We're ready. We have the energy and strength to endure this journey. They can't imagine how much of this energy and strength they are going to need, and the tone is set from the very first kilometer.

Like the 12 Labors of Hercules, their first test is to reach the Candelaria Cave and its underground river, which marks the border between the world of the living and that of the dead. We're going in this direction, the direction of the realm of the dead. That's where I'll be smoking the cigar of the gods.

I hope Eric can swim! I can't smoke, let alone swim! However, I'll manage once I'm in the water.

Before that, it's up to the driver to learn how to swim in the mud. I'll hook up the winch cable to get us out of here. We'll try to tow it out.

Now I'll hook the car to another tree to pull it even further. For the shaman and his disciple, there must be a reason for all this. It's a sign from the Mayan gods.

Eric thinks he's figured it out. Since we're stuck, I had time to notice that something was moving in the water, so I came over to have a look. It's a sign of good fortune.

They are indeed moving at the speed of a turtle. We're lucky that our ancestors sent us this animal. Only if the gods gave it the power to get them out of there.

However, Eric remains a firm believer in his turtle. She's coming with us. With or without a living talisman, the road to their ancestors' city still has many surprises in store for them.

The shaman and his disciple aren't the only ones trying to keep the traditions alive, but some are harder than others to preserve, especially when they've become illegal. We're going out to sea to set the bait for shark fishing. It's my first time.

I'm going to see if I'm cut out for the job. Hugo might be getting himself into troubled waters. Some sharks are up to eight meters long.

His uncle is in charge of teaching him the secrets of the family trade. His sunburned face makes him look like one of the pirates of the Caribbean. Thirty years at sea have made Marcos one of the best shark catchers on the coast.

From here on, you have to sail very carefully. If a wave turns the boat over, you get attacked by sharks. Hugo acts as a lookout because they're outlawed.

Shark fishing is strictly forbidden. We're in the Gulf of Honduras. If the Honduran coast guard catches us in this fishing zone, they'll throw us in jail and confiscate our gear.

Playing cat and mouse with the coast guards doesn't scare Hugo, but getting a shark out of the water is another story. The bigger sharks are the real scary ones. Look, they've caught one!

Let me know if you need some help. It's a small tiger shark, a species that reminds Tomás of a terrible misadventure that doesn't reassure his nephew. It's very dangerous.

Once, I took another nephew fishing with me. I saw a shark coming, and it was very big. When I turned on the engine, the shark got scared and started pulling on the boat!

A hook got stuck in my nephew's foot. I jumped on top of him to keep him from being dragged overboard, but the shark kept pulling and ended up tearing off his foot. Now we'll look at the foot of our flag.

We might find a shark there. A line with bait is placed under the buoy. We've caught a shark.

Don't go any closer. This one took the bait during the night. It died of asphyxiation, because a shark needs to swim in order to breathe.

Sharks keep moving even in their sleep. It's a 50-kilogram shark. Beware of their last burst of energy.

Watch your fingers. Not sure Hugo has the trade in his blood like his uncle. I'm tensed, it's the first time I've taken one out of the water.

It's really dangerous, their teeth are very sharp. It doesn't make me want to do this job. In any case, according to Marcos, the profession is doomed to disappear as sharks become increasingly scarce.

Overfishing is a cause, but it is not the only one. In this region, the sea is threatened by a land-based enemy, a phenomenon unparalleled even on a global scale. The fisherman and his nephew still have to face it later today.

Fighting to survive, tuk-tuk driver Anthony knows this all too well. In the city, competition is fierce, and he has to fight for customers. Competition means lowering fares, so he's decided to quit the streets and go for the mountain trails.

Up there, tuk-tuks are fewer, so he can raise the fare. However, there's a downside. The hassle also increases, but it doesn't matter.

This new energy represents a great hope to save enough money to join the police academy, a dream that was put on hold to allow Anthony to take care of his family. I'm a single mother. I'm alone to raise my children, and I've always made sure they had everything they needed.

I can't do it anymore because I've fallen ill. Today, the whole family survives thanks to my son, Anthony. To help us, he's been a tuk-tuk driver for three years.

Without his work, we wouldn't have anything to eat. He needs to continue his studies to earn more money in the future. Be happy, my sister, and fight for your dreams.

Drams come true if you dream them. He has to find something else. He can't be a cab driver all his life.

Mom, I promise I'll stop being a driver. I know Dad abandoned us and never gave us any love, but I'm going to give you some. Don't cry, Mom.

Don't you cry. I'll never leave you. Thank you, son.

For the love of his mom and his family, and probably in part for the love of risk, Anthony heads to the mountains, and the day gets off to a great start. He lands a customer, and with it comes the stress. These men live in a village that sits high among the clouds.

Life is hard in Guatemala. There's poverty, misery. .

. There are also impossible roads. The sun doesn't pierce the clouds, but the heat is stifling for the men, especially for the tuk-tuk.

Holes and ribs make its little engine suffer, so after an hour of hardship. . .

In this heat, the engine is getting too hot. When it's in first gear and I shift into second, the engine makes a loud boom sound. I don't know if we'll be able to keep going.

My tuk-tuk is in really bad shape. I'm afraid I'll get stuck further up the mountain and kill the engine. Too heavy for an engine on the verge of breaking down, the three men continue their journey on foot.

Meanwhile, Anthony paces up to the stream to try and bring down the temperature of both the engine and his body. A quick bath, and off he goes again. Let's keep going.

He's keeping his spirits up, but so far, he hasn't earned much. His first three customers have only paid him half the fare, €2. 5, and the road isn't getting any better.

Frankly, the state of the road is pitiful. There are holes, potholes, and landslides. Just like this road, everything is complicated in Guatemala for Mayan descendants like Anthony.

Very few reach positions of responsibility. Most are workers: small traders or farmers. For the latter, the arrival of global warming has been catastrophic.

These mountains have become a refuge for this community. The Mayans left everything behind to come and live here. Their region had become uninhabitable due to disease and a lack of water caused by drought.

They were looking for a better life, and they found it in this valley. Here lies the sleeping giant that unites the Maya, the volcano that represents us. The Mayan civilization is disappearing now, but we, the descendants, won't let this happen to us because we are still warriors.

Warriors without weapons, for there are a thousand ways to win a battle. One of them is passing on to prevent disappearance. Keeping traditions is the mission Shaman Tomás and his disciple Eric have set for themselves.

They are attempting to reach the ancient city of El Mirador to honor their ancestors at the summit of the highest Mayan pyramid ever built. Beyond the symbolism, they have chosen this city because it is still untouched by tourism. There are virtually no roads leading to it.

There are actually no roads, as this one can't even be considered a track. As for Eric, he's counting on his lucky charm to get them out of this hellhole. My turtle is still here, bouncing with us.

The driver knows he'll need much more than a lucky charm to finish the trip. The road is really awful during the rainy season. It's horrendous.

I've never traveled in so much mud. We're having a mud bath in the jungle. The track is very slippery.

We're getting deeper and deeper into the mud. No matter how much Tomás and Eric pray or how many incantations they make, nothing works. There's only one solution: to perform the mud dance, as they call it.

It's not very shamanic, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We help the driver by hopping like this. It's supposed to help the wheels of the car adhere to the mud.

We do what we can to make the trip a little easier. We've got to hop better than that. Come on, Eric, push the car!

Push, push! However, two shamans dancing is bound to wake up the elements. Oh, no, it's raining.

We'll must wait for the rain to let up. For the driver, this is too much. He prefers to throw in the towel.

Gentlemen, we've made it this far, but now we can't go any further, so take your luggage, you can continue on foot. It's going to rain, Eric. Let's go, let's move.

The other bag is missing, and I can't find your suitcase. I came in tennis shoes, but now they look like boots. -Thank you very much.

-Good luck on the road! Thanks, it's nice of you. We have to hurry before it gets dark.

We have no choice but to keep going. The forest may be dense, but after an hour's walk, they can finally get some rest. Early in the morning, a pleasant surprise.

The sun is out, and better yet, they found a driver to take them to the Candelaria Cave and the underground river they're going to cross. Back in the day, the Mayans used to come to the region on pilgrimage. They used the caves as sanctuaries.

Today, shamans perpetuate Mayan beliefs, but in a more discreet way. What I feel is that they still carry within them the centuries of oppression by the conquistadors, who imposed Christianity on them. The cave is three hours away on foot, and a Mayan guide shows them the way.

Without her, it would be impossible to find it. Here lies one of the gateways to the infraworld, the world of the dead. Don't be fooled, this has nothing to do with hell.

There's no devil here. It's a peaceful world from which water, the source of life, pours. Before entering the infraworld, I call upon the heart of heaven, the heart of earth, the heart of air, and the heart of water.

I never imagined I'd see a place like this. I imagined a small cave where only one person could get through, but this entrance is so impressive. I feel all the energy of the place.

The entrance to the infraworld is located at the other end of the cave. To reach it, you have to go down the river. Unlike the Styx, the river of hell in Greek mythology, you don't have to pay an obol to a ferryman.

Instead, to open the passage, you have to smoke the cigars of the gods. We're now ready to change worlds. Before we can pass through, we must ask our Creator's permission to find out if Eric, my disciple, can enter the infraworld, where our dead lie and where our ancestors are buried.

It's positive, it's positive! Can you read it in the cigar? Of course, I can.

I can see a lot of light, a lot of wealth, and a long way to go for Eric. Tomás has to smoke seven cigars. Each one brings an answer, the last one being the most important.

We did it! We've done it! We did it because the cigar split in two.

The shaman has brought boys to go down the river, but the gods won't show them the way, and the cave is a real labyrinth. Without their Mayan guide, the two of them could quickly get lost. This is the entrance to the infraworld.

The ancestors have given us permission. We're welcome here because we've succeeded in defeating evil. Eric, how are you feeling?

On the way, I was tired, but since I entered the cave, I've regained my strength. Be careful, it's slippery! You could get hurt and drown, and there are bats around.

It's completely dark! I can't imagine how our ancestors managed to get down the river in the dark. They've arrived on the other side, in the infraworld, a world where life and death exist side by side without fighting.

Indeed, there's a gentle sense of fulfillment in the air. It's only for those who have no place to be. The gods wrote it in the cigar.

There's still a long way to go before getting to the Great Pyramid. The forest stretches as far as the eye can see, seemingly endless, and yet its surface is shrinking every day, razed for its wood and to raise livestock by poachers and drug traffickers. It's a massacre that doesn't stop there.

In Guatemala, rivers are discharging unprecedented levels of pollution. It's useless to look for fish. They disappeared a long time ago.

According to the NGO Ocean Cleanup, every year, the Las Vacas River floods, carrying 20,000 tons of plastic. That is 2% of all the plastic dumped in the oceans. To stop this tsunami of waste, some of which comes from the capital, an NGO built a dam 50 meters wide and eight meters high.

In the face of the weight, the metal structure finally gave way. Bottles, trays, yogurt pots, and other plastic objects are now slowly making their way to the sea to be dumped into the Gulf of Honduras. Fishermen like Hugo and Marcos are catching fewer and fewer fish and more and more garbage in their nets.

At certain times of the year, when we're out shark fishing and the sea is rough, it gets covered in plastic. It's a real sea of garbage! It's all because of the garbage carried by the river.

This improvised dam was built and installed by the villagers, who were fed up with the garbage. The dam didn't resist the strength of the current. The river discharge is so much that the plastic clumps together and ends up creating islands.

Take a look at this, it's rotting garbage! All this pollution then washes up on the beaches along the coast. Grab the anchor!

To think that not so long ago, this place was a paradise. We've been dealing with this horrible pollution for at least ten years. It contaminates everything!

This alligator died because of the waste, it swelled up. My dream is that all this rubbish disappears one day. If the government doesn't help us, we won't be able to do anything on our own.

Marcos and his nephew have thought about leaving this dying region, but to start a new life, they need resources they don't have. In our area, it's hard to get by. Whatever work we do, it's impossible to earn a good living.

I'll have to keep on fishing, I have no choice. There's still some fish left, but the plastic is slowly killing off the sea's inhabitants. One of the reasons for this devastating pollution is the landfills upstream.

They're rudimentary dumps with no storage system, let alone sorting. They're a disaster for nature and a way to earn a little money for one's children. It's not a difficult job.

You just have to be careful when they set fire to the garbage. That's all. Like Elsa, dozens of them rummage through the rubbish, looking for the smallest plastic bottle, tin can, or other object that could be resold to recyclers.

Their little hands get $0. 50 for a ten-kilo bundle. A few bills to supplement family incomes, not to mention the little extras hidden in the garbage cans of those who have everything they need.

I found a pair of sandals. No, they're torn. Áxel, 12, and his little brother Alfredo, seven, work at the dump every day.

Look, I found a game console! Give it to me, I want it! I'll open it and see if there are any batteries.

Yes, there are batteries, look! I'll keep it. The extraordinary thing about children is that they can forget the horror of the dump long enough to play a few improvised games.

Alfredo strays a little, but his big brother doesn't lose sight of the dangers around him. I don't like my little brother coming here. Something might happen to him.

There are lots of stray dog carcasses, chickens, and pigs. The vultures end up eating them until there's nothing left. Not to mention the smoke from burning plastic all day long.

The smell of garbage is very strong, and the smoke intoxicates us. It's very dangerous, and it gets into our lungs without us realizing it. It kills, we mustn't stay here too long.

I'll sell it at the market. I can help my mother with the money I earn here. They live in that house on the edge of the dump.

Mom, come see the stuff I've collected. We'll try to sell that on Sunday. This is my mom and my little brother.

With the money her children bring in, Maria Rosa buys a few beers and sells them at a small profit. Not enough to get rich, but just enough to survive since she got ill. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with tumors in my throat.

The doctors told me they were cancerous. That's why I can't work at the landfill anymore because the fumes hurt me. It affects me more than others.

I wish God would give me a few more years to raise my children. My father often told me that he couldn't get enough of my smile, so I tried to look on the bright side of life and keep only the good things instead of the bad. Despite our misfortunes, I always try to keep smiling.

I do it especially for my children because they need me. I can't fail them. To live up to her words, Maria Rosa makes a sacrifice by sending her kids to school twice a week.

Two days worth of money are lost. The two brothers are also ready to make sacrifices for their mother. Opposite their dump lies a border and all their hopes.

They dream of one day having enough money to pay a ferryman and take off on a great adventure. Do you see the opposite bank of the river? That's Mexico!

That's where the American dream begins. I promise you that one day, we'll reach the United States. Once we're there, we can help Mom financially, and above all, she'll be able to cure her illness.

I promise you that one day we'll live in America. When he set off for the mountains, Anthony also had a dream: to earn a better living by charging more than he would in the city. In the end, the tuk-tuk driver found himself in a lot of trouble, with very few customers and lots of obstacles.

The current in this waterfall is too strong. I don't know if I can cross it with my tuk-tuk! A small victory quickly erased by another problem, but despite everything, Anthony keeps smiling and believing in his success.

His energy is rewarded by helping hands at just the right moment. You'll try to drive as high as you can on the left-hand side, where we've removed the stones. We will push you as hard as we can.

I hope that I can give up driving soon. I don't want to drive in these dangerous mountains anymore. I have to work to get my mother out of poverty.

She's everything to me. Every day, she helps me and prays for me. I'm nothing without my family.

I wish people would stop making fun of cabbies like me. I'll tell you something, no one should be ashamed of their work. Those who work shall be rewarded.

I'll tell you that much, and you can be sure I'm sincere. Since our shoot, Anthony is still a tuk-tuk driver, but he started to put aside some of the money he earns, savings that are bringing him closer to his dream of joining the police academy. In the middle of the rainforest, two people are about to make their dream come true.

After ten days of driving and walking through muddy tracks, Shaman Tomás and his disciple Eric finally arrive in the city of El Mirador. At 72 meters high, the largest Mayan pyramid, built 600 years before Christ, is still imposing. All around it, under the forest, is an immense city of 16 square kilometers that is yet to be discovered.

The two shamans come to celebrate their gods and Tecún Umán, one of the last Mayan heroes to resist the conquistadors. I remember a great poem that says: Tecún Umán, he of the green towers. In a single file, Indians, Indians, and more Indians!

Indians like 100,000 ants, armed with 7,000 blowpipes and 1,000 axes. These are the great towers of which Tecún Umán speaks. We thank our ancestors for leading us to this Olympus, to this majestic place.

[Spanish spoken audio] Pyramids served as temples, tombs for rulers, observatories to observe the stars, places of sacrifice, and guardians of the history of a people that began 2,600 years before our era. They have been carried through time like a message that brings together and restores the identity of the Maya people.