486 - Ixpanpujul
Today we explored a jungle called Ixpanpujul. If you can pronounce that correctly on your first try, I’ll send you a pack of orange-grape gum.
Speaking of which, I’m seriously addicted. We currently have 5 different flavors of gum in our van right now, all of them strange Central American hybrids. I’m not sure how it’s gotten to this point, but I don’t see it as a bad thing. My breath is always fresh as hell.
Ixpanpujul is the name of a mini nature park in Guatemala that’s positioned strategically around a sort of rainforest “canyon.” The politically correct term would probably be “rainforest canopy,” but I’ve never seen a canopy in my life until today, so “lush canyon” is more fitting in my world.
The reason we chose this place was because it has some of the largest suspension bridges in Guatemala, all accessible without the use of ziplines- something Central America seems to embrace and love.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good zipline sesh as much as the next guy, but they’re not exactly ideal photography adventures. Unless you’re paying for a private session with a company that understands your goals, photography is near impossible while gliding along those sketchy steel cables.
This place involved about 2 miles of hiking across 6 different suspension bridges, so I figured there had to be at least one that’d be photogenic. We also planned on arriving first thing in the morning. But I’m not going to lie, the images online were spotty, so we were gambling that the $20 USD entrance fee would be worth it.
It didn’t start off promising. Right off the bat, the trail began with two “practice” suspension bridges less than 5 feet off the ground. Great, I thought. We’ve already almost done half the bridges and we haven’t even gotten elevation yet.
We kept walking. Up and up and up, as the growl of howler monkeys began to echo through the trees. It sounded like we were chasing after some kind of hellcat. The third bridge ended up being significantly better than the first two, but it was nothing to write home over.
We kept going. And then finally… we hit the fourth bridge. The number four has always been lucky to me, and it appeared that superstition held up in Central America. This bridge was incredible. And I’m not saying that lightly- it was massive.
And guess what? The lighting was damn near perfect. As soon as we arrived, the puffiest cloud you can imagine popped right in front of the sun. Soft, delicate light enveloped the canopy, and all of a sudden the landscape transformed into something magical.
My drone started calling my name from inside the camera bag. And that’s when I realized there was no way I was going to be able to take off anywhere near the edges of the bridge… There was far too much vegetation to get the drone into the sky.
Which meant only one thing- I’d have to take off and then land the drone from the middle of the suspension bridge. My heart began to race as I took a quick look down and realized that we were very high up. It didn’t help that the “rails” of the bridge were only at waist height, which meant I’d have to make sure I didn’t topple off the bridge while looking up into the sky to position the drone correctly. It also didn’t help that Haley was dancing across the bridge, taking photos like a princess in a ballroom.
Now this, my friends, is advanced drone flying. Don’t try this at home. (If your home happens to have a steel suspension bridge over a rainforest in Guatemala, that is.)
With my hand shaking, I loaded up and took the drone off from my bare hands. We were off. Luckily I began to get lost into the photography composition on screen, and quickly forgot about my physical reality. It didn’t take long to find the best angle:
“Canopy Couple”
Taken on DJI Mavic Mini
[ISO 100 ~ 4.49mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/320s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Damn that was a fun photo to take. Looking back on it, this scene felt like the essence of adventure photography. A heart-pounding good time. I quickly landed the drone in my hand and carefully put it away in my bag. Visions of the drone flying out my hand by accident flashed through my mind.
I then proceeded to speed walk off the bridge. Kind of like when you’re a kid and you run up the stairs from the basement after you turn off the lights. I was long overdue for some solid ground.
Oh! I almost forgot. I added a little Photoshop magic into this shot as well, experimentally. I brushed in some fog to enhance its depth and mystery. What do you think? Look real?
Once I was on solid ground, I took a look back and took in the bridge again. It was so long that it almost looked like it went straight up if you zoomed in. I then realized there might be one more shot in the cards…
“Lush Razer”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200m f/2.8 GM
[ISO 800 ~ 54mm ~ f/13 ~ 1/400s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Now, from that perspective that shot doesn’t make the bridge look too long. But in reality, it took me about 45 seconds to walk out to that spot in the middle. Pure insanity.
One of my favorite things about telephoto lenses is the effect of making something look impossibly steep. If you line yourself up straight with a road, bridge, or walkway that rises, zoom in and crop. You’ll get this “rising effect.”
And with that, we continued the hike for another couple bridges. The last couple weren’t as long as the photo one, and the cloud went away so the sun became scorching. When it started to feel like too much to bear, we suddenly arrived at the top of the trail. Our mission was complete.
And this place knew what was up. They had a whole deck built at the top of the mountain complete with hammocks. Tell me one place in America that does that. We probably ended up spending a half hour just swinging around on those things until we decided to brace ourselves for the way back down.
In case you're wondering, this was a significant stretch for my “recovering” broken foot. 2 miles with a couple hundo feet of elevation gain. But you know what? There’s only one way to find out if you can do it. And guess what? I did it. I only felt mildly sore after. Hell ya, we’re almost completely back in business folks.
Stay tuned. Next post I get stung in the face by a fucking hornet at the tallest ruins in Central America- Tikal.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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