Muchos gracias.
Well, this is it.
I'm on a deserted beach off the coast of Mexico
and this is where my journey begins.
Adios.
My name is Levison Wood.
In 2014, I walked the Nile and in 2015 I walked the Himalayas.
Now, I'm about to trek between two continents
on what could be my toughest journey yet.
You don't get that if you rub sticks together.
THEY LAUGH
MONKEY HOWLS
My plan is to walk from the point where Europeans first made landfall
in Mexico, all the way to Colombia along the length of Central America.
My route will take me through eight countries across volcanic plains,
drug-smuggling routes and cloud forests.
But before I can cross into South America,
I'll have to make it through
one of the last great wildernesses on Earth,
the lawless jungle of the Darien Gap.
I'll take four million steps...
..over remote...
..unpredictable...
I've never seen anything quite like this before.
..and beautiful landscapes.
You can see everything.
This is absolutely incredible.
HORSE WHINNIES
I'll see Central America...
..through the eyes of the people that live here.
That's a bullet hole.
Dangerous business being a pastor around these parts, isn't it?
On the first leg of my journey...
..I'll witness an ancient civilisation...
Wow, I've never seen anything like that.
..do battle with the jungles of Belize...
It's been described as "the green hell".
..and step into narco territory. DOG BARKS
On alert at the moment. You never know who you're going to bump into.
My journey begins on the northern shores
of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Let's go.
This is the same coastline that the Spanish conquistadors
arrived at when they invaded Central America
in search of gold and riches.
The Spanish clashed violently with the great kingdoms
of the Aztec and Maya.
It's a collision that still reverberates through this region...
..one of the most fascinating and diverse on Earth.
So, the first thing I need to do is find a suitable guide...
..and I've got somebody in mind called Alberto,
so I'm going to go and track him down.
First stop is the town of Merida, where I'll meet my companion.
From there, the Americas will draw us through Mexico's Mayan heartland.
I want to track the amazing coastline of Belize
before being forced inland
past the jungles where I trained as a soldier to the only land crossing
into Guatemala and the lawless wilderness known as El Peten.
Alberto.
GATE BUZZES
How do I get in?
Alberto Caceres is an old expedition buddy of mine.
How are you doing, old friend?
I can't believe you are here. It's been a long time.
In 2010, we drove the length of Africa together.
He wants to walk the whole way with me,
something none of my previous guides have done.
He said that he couldn't turn this down.
The moment that I called him and said that I was coming to Mexico,
he said, "Right, I'm coming with you."
No debate. So, I didn't really have a choice in the matter.
I'll miss you, Merida, a lot.
See you in four months.
Again in the roads.
Exactly. After six years.
Unbelievable.
I'm glad you could come along.
I met Alberto six years ago.
Hola.
I'd lost my camera and, being a photographer, he lent me one of his.
Buenos dias.
Born and bred in Mexico, he's the ideal man to have around.
So, how do you say the name of this place?
Acanceh. Acanceh? Acanceh town.
And that's a Mayan, a Mayan word. That's a Mayan name.
Mayan word, OK. And there is a lot of Mayan people around.
Hello. Hola.
Up ahead, like a lot of these places,
there's always a colonial-era church,
but what is quite unusual about Acanceh
is that right next to the church
you've got an ancient Mayan pyramid right in the middle of town
and it really is this clash of old and new right next to each other.
Do you want to hold the camera?
This peaceful plaza was once the site of ritual murder.
The Spanish described horrifying scenes of human sacrifice.
Decapitation, disembowelment and heart extraction,
all performed on pyramids like this.
And the further we get into the Mayan heartland,
I think the more of these we're going to see.
It often hits 40 degrees Celsius in the Yucatan.
Most Mexicans avoid the midday sun, unlike Alberto and me.
This heat is unbelievable.
HE PANTS
And the sun beats down on the tarmac and just reflects it up
and you just get these wafts of just hot air.
It's like walking into a hairdryer.
For the next five days, we'll be crossing the flat,
arid plains of the Yucatan Peninsula.
There are no mountains, hills or rivers to see,
but there's a unique world hidden beneath our feet.
So, the whole of the Yucatan Peninsula
is completely flat and all of the water
is in fact underground and that's because, well,
some people suggest, anyway,
that when the meteorite hit
that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago,
this whole landscape became pockmarked with these sinkholes,
the cenotes.
The ancient Maya used to say that these are the portals
into the underworld.
When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s,
the Mayas were one of the most advanced cultures
in the Western Hemisphere.
Cenotes provided fresh water for vast cities.
Now, most are overgrown and hard to find, unless you know where to look.
Senor Aaron. How are you? How are you doing?
Local dive master Aaron Diaz
has agreed to show us a cenote few people know about.
This is the place.
And how deep is it there? I can't even see the bottom.
Ah, yeah. Here to the water, maybe...
..15 metres. 15 metres?
Wow. Yeah. What's the noises down there?
Birds. Birds? Yeah.
There's an estimated 6,000 sinkholes across the Yucatan.
Locals still use some as wells.
Landowner Don Elmo discovered this cenote had a grisly secret.
Somebody lied to me.
They told me we are just going to walk and now I'm jumping in a hole.
OK. Ready?
Whoa.
Going into the Mayan underworld.
Wow.
Many cenotes are connected,
forming vast networks of flooded caves hundreds of miles long.
This year, three divers died when they got lost and ran out of air.
This is definitely an eerie place to be.
Mum, Dad, I love you.
Sorry for all the bad things I did when I was a kid.
Whoo!
Where are you?
Here we go.
Dive master Aaron leads us 15 metres down to the cenote floor.
Being sacrificed was in fact an honour,
guaranteeing entry into heaven.
Whilst Don Elmo says 100 victims lie here...
..some estimate that the Maya killed a quarter of a million people
each year to appease the gods.
Wow. I've never seen anything like that.
There's just heads everywhere.
This is not somewhere I'd like to be stuck for much longer.
Don Elmo?
Can we go now?
I'm walking Central America from Mexico to Colombia
with my friend and guide, Alberto.
HE LAUGHS
I'm better at walking than I am football.
Buenas tardes.
So, this is Homun
and every town and every village has got its own patron saint.
And whenever it's a patron saint's day,
they have a big party, a fiesta.
LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS
There's no health and safety going on here.
Out in force today are the rancheros and their steeds.
Before the Spanish arrived, there were no horses in Central America.
The Maya had never seen men on horseback and it's said they thought
they were looking at gods.
450 years later and the horse is still worshipped.
The charrerIa,
or rodeo, is Mexico's national sport.
So, they're going to release a bull into the stadium for the rodeo
and then all the guys on horses chase in there.
And then I think it seems like it's a competition to catch him.
Then they start pushing each other like very aggressive
because everybody wants to catch the bull and bring it back
into the trucks. But they don't kill the bull, right?
I fear that if we stand here much longer we're going to get stampeded.
The last time I was on a horse in Mexico I broke my leg.
Alberto and I are pushing south through Mexico's Yucatan region,
averaging around 20 miles a day.
I'm very hungry.
You're very hungry? What about you?
I'm pretty hungry, too. It's taco time.
Buenas tardes.
'We've reached the town of Mama,
'where Alberto's promised me the best tacos going.'
Hola.
'Made by his adopted family, the Tzib Tshus.'
Cruz. Lev.
Hola. Mucho gusto. Buenas tardes.
He is...
mi ahijado. Hola. Mucho gusto.
The Tzib Tshus are some of the 10 million descendants of the
ancient Maya living in Central America.
Let's go to make the tortillas.
CHAIR CRACKS THEY LAUGH
He broke the chair!
Sorry, sorry, I'll buy you a new one.
SPEAKING SPANISH
Oh!
HE SNIGGERS
Sorry!
Mayan family gatherings mean everyone's invited,
like cousin Theodoro, who's known Alberto for eight years.
My brother.
Pays well?
That's the reason that they prefer to risk their life and go.
So, do many people from Mama and Yucatan go to Estados Unidos?
Just from this town? Wow.
And then they were asking money to the family so they had to send some
money and they dropped him onto the mountain, wherever.
So they can steal your money just so easy because you are there,
there is nobody to protect you, you are doing something illegally.
Yeah. So it's a super risky thing to do.
For the next 100 miles,
we must navigate highways and dirt tracks to the more remote parts of
the Yucatan to reach the border with country number two, Belize.
Now that we're on our own,
I've asked Alberto to try and negotiate a tricycle so that we can
carry extra water and our bags because of the heat and
this is what he's found.
'Alberto's worked his local contacts from Mama to buy a classic form
'of Yucatan transport. And this one's a vintage model.'
Happy with it?
Yeah. It's better than nothing.
Adios. ALL: Adios.
Ready, Alberto? Whoa, this is hot!
Shit! You need some gloves!
Super hot, too!
This is the hard thing to do.
Alberto's going to ride the tricycle with the water and bags on
and I'm going to walk.
You feeling hot, Alberto?
Yes, a bit.
Very dry, no? Dry and hot.
I thought this was the rainy season.
It is but still hot anyway!
Where's the rain, though?
I don't know, I don't see any rain around.
Finally, he catch us, the rain.
We couldn't escape.
'We're deep in Mayan backcountry and so far the roads have been quiet.'
Alberto. 'But things can change very quickly.'
Three. So there's still many more out there?
Yeah, they only catch three and they have weapons with them.
Oh, really?
The fugitives are linked to Mexico's most feared drug cartel, Los Zetas.
And we're walking on their home turf.
The cops tell us to pick up the pace for the next 20 miles and get
ourselves over the state line and away from any potential trouble.
To be honest, they can't have got very far because three of them
were apprehended by the police really close to here.
The problem is that I guess they know that all of the main roads
have got police checkpoints on them,
so they're going to be avoiding the main roads.
That's what I would do if I was running away
and that's where we are, so.
After a tense day spent looking over our shoulders,
Alberto and I make it out of the Yucatn and into the next state,
Quintana Roo.
But we're not out of bandit country just yet.
No!
Now we have nothing. Now we've got nothing left.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis...
After ten days,
the Americans have taken us from open plains into thick forest.
Nature rules here now.
But 1,000 years ago,
all this was cleared to make way for sprawling cities
home to tens of thousands of people.
Locals like community leader Darmian are the only ones who know
what secrets are hidden here.
Some of these little trails, one or two people have been here, maximum.
'We start to see traces of ancient life.'
Wow!
So, here we go, we've got just pieces of ancient Mayan pottery
that's just lying around.
Damian was saying any time it rains,
it just washes this stuff straight out of the ground.
You can see the stairs.
This is proper Indiana Jones stuff, this.
'The Maya were highly skilled architects.
'But wars, droughts and massive deforestation forced them
'to abandon these magnificent cities.'
Just everywhere, bits of pottery.
'And within 100 years, the jungle had engulfed them.'
This has got to be one of the highest pyramids in the whole of,
wow, Mexico, right?
This is not on any of the maps.
It's not on, it's not even on Google Earth.
It's not on any of the tourist literature.
HE SPEAKS SPANISH
No. No.
Even Damian doesn't even know the name.
Crazy to think, isn't it, that here we are in the 21st-century
and there's still enormous pyramids like this
hidden away in the jungle.
Blows my mind.
So, to get to the Belize border, we've taken what,
according to the map,
looks like the remains of an old road.
The only problem we've got is that we've been told that
along this route there's a certain kind of tree called a Chechem tree,
which has got poisonous leaves and if you touch it,
it burns your skin and it's toxic.
People have even been hospitalised just from touching it.
I think these ones are the Chechem, they're like very skinny.
Some people told me that they preferred to take a knife and remove
the skin where it's hurt by the Chechem because that's less painful.
Maybe we just run through it as quickly as possible?
Eventually, the old road disappears completely.
Yeah, it looks like we've got a river to cross.
Big stones in here.
Yeah, I think left a bit.
It's quite deep.
OK.
This is what we have the holes here for, watch.
I love it.
'After two weeks of walking, we've covered over 250 miles
'to make it to the edge of Mexico.
'In front of us is country number two, Belize.
'But before we reach the border there's bad news.
'A massive hurricane is on its way.'
packing ferocious winds of up to 80mph.
Devastation to houses and infrastructure have been tremendous.
I should be in Belize,
but before I reached there,
a massive hurricane slams its Caribbean coast.
The Belizean government declares a state of emergency.
'But after a few days waiting,
'Alberto and I are good to leave Mexico and make our way there.'
So, this is it, leaving Mexico now, onto country number two, Belize,
which is just over there.
Just have to see what state the place is in.
Hopefully, it's not too bad.
Say, "Goodbye, Mexico." Goodbye, Mexico.
I'm entering Belize on its far eastern border with Mexico,
on the island worst hit by the storm,
San Pedro.
We will rejoin the mainland at Belize City,
where we'll follow the route west through the Belizean jungles,
where I trained as a soldier with the British Army,
before pushing on to the only border crossing with Guatemala.
As soon as we step off the boat,
we can see where Hurricane Earl left its mark on San Pedro.
You can see the piles of debris all over the place.
The piers, all the stuff that's made of wood, just completely blown away.
So, this island of San Pedro brings in millions and millions of tourist dollars.
But there is definitely a price to pay of living in this area.
The whole tropical region of Central America is fraught with hurricanes
and this is right on the hurricane corridor.
'90% of the island's piers and docks have been obliterated
'and it's the fishermen who've been hit hardest.'
Hello, how are you doing?
From England. Look at him, look at him, look at him.
England. England? Oh, hi, mate.
How are you doing?
Nothing to do.
No. I'm Joe, anyway. My name is Joe.
What's your name? Joe.
This is the guy right here.
What happened with the hurricane?
Did you lose any of your buildings or what?
You lost your boat? Everything.
Yeah.
That was where yours was, right?
Yeah.
Belize is a tiny nation of just 300,000 people.
And 10,000 of them lost their homes in the hurricane.
Further down the coast, we pass through Belize City.
Until 1981, Belize was a remote outpost of the British Empire,
known as British Honduras.
Thank you. Thanks, very much. Have fun, guys.
Look at the old... The old British postbox there.
You can see it's an old colony.
Belize was Britain's only foothold in Central America
and, for once, I'm fluent in the local tongue.
Morning, how are you doing?
Yeah, where you from, man? From England, how are you doing?
Good. Good. Yeah.
So, are you just walking around?
Walking to Guatemala.
WALKING to Guatemala?
Well, actually we're walking to Colombia.
You're the walking crew?
Yeah. Don't mess around, brother, really?
Yeah, really.
You guys are crazy, baby.
Up ahead
are the hills of Western Belize
and that's the direction that we're going now,
into the jungle and then heading towards the border with Guatemala.
'We're approaching the same rainforest
'where I did my army jungle training in 2007.
'It's the ideal place to prepare for our mission
'to walk through the Darien Gap,
'a notorious stretch of wilderness between Central and South America.'
The jungle has always been regarded as one of the most dangerous
and difficult environments to be in.
It's been described as "the green hell."
'To survive out here,
'we need the help of an expert and I have just the guy in mind.'
We're going to meet Aaron.
He's the guy that taught me jungle skills way back,
almost ten years ago,
so he's going to come tomorrow morning
and, for Alberto's first time in the jungle,
show us just how to live and survive in this environment.
THEY LAUGH
You don't get that if you rub sticks together!
Expert tracker Aaron has trained British soldiers
in jungle warfare for over 16 years.
And I feel safe with you.
Today, he'll lead us on a trek
to teach us survival and navigation skills.
So, 5K.
On the road, that would take one hour.
How many hours do you think this is going to take through the jungle?
Six hours. Six hours, OK.
So, we're going to head off the main trail now.
And this is where things get tough.
'All being well, we'll be a few miles closer
'to the Guatemalan border by the end of the day.
'A lot of things in the jungle can either kill you or keep you alive.
'Luckily, Aaron knows the difference.'
We're going to be using this stuff later.
It's a termite nest. What is it? Explain what it is.
It's called a termite nest. OK. I'm going to see if it's alive.
Oh, it's lovely. It's alive.
That is food.
That's surviving.
How do they taste?
They taste like fish and chips.
It's lovely.
How do they taste?
Taste shit.
It's there.
We've got a baby tarantula here.
And the whole family is there. Does not want that on my...
OK. Let's let him go now, I think.
Let's see how far she goes.
OK.
THEY LAUGH
That's enough for me. That's enough, right,
let's leave the poor thing alone.
Let's go.
Progress in the jungle is slow.
Walking through the Darien Gap will involve over a week of trekking
in terrain much tougher than this.
It's hard work.
You know, you almost forget that the dangers are lying all around,
snakes, deadfall up above, you know it's a proper...
..difficult environment.
You were telling me earlier about a story about your boss, right? What happened?
He was, erm, clearing an area like this and he just pulled a vine.
Actually, there was a dead branch on top of the tree
and it came right on, towards his face,
entered through his mouth,
came out the other way under his jaw.
He's OK. All his teeth was gone.
Maps and compasses can only get you so far in the jungle.
Aaron is navigating by following this stream.
He says it will lead us to a river and onto civilisation.
THUNDER RUMBLES
It was bone dry ten seconds ago and now it's bucketing down.
When it rains in the jungle, you know about it.
Everything is just soaking wet.
It's super slippery.
Bollocks.
Aaron.
That tree there just collapsed over...
We head downstream until we find a crossing point.
But the rain means the water's rising by the minute.
Well, we made it to the river.
You see the river is coming fast, so we have to hurry, OK?
OK. Let's do it.
Aaron tells me to go first.
It's taken us eight hours to cover three miles.
We've learnt just how unpredictable the jungle can be.
But, for now, there's only one thing on our minds.
That way?
Which way for the tacos, then?
Which way? Surely you can smell them?
HE SNIFFS OK, follow me, then.
This way. Wrong way.
Let's go, vamos. Vamos. Press on, on foot.
Hungry, very hungry.
The next morning, we're back on the main road,
and aiming for the only land crossing into Guatemala,
20 miles west.
Hola, entrada? Gracias.
That's it, we're inside Guatemala.
Alberto's happy, he gets to speak Spanish again.
Yeah, finally.
Away from the border,
we find ourselves amongst lush, rolling hills
dotted with small ranches.
Alberto and I spend our first night in a small forest camp.
It's chilly, huh?
It's 7am, far too late for any self-respecting explorer
to still be in bed.
I love this, this is like a baby cow.
It's a big baby, this one,
so it's going to take a little bit to come out.
You wake up, get out your hammock,
then you discover...
..something a little bit like this.
And it's hidden gems like this
that make Central America one of the most incredible parts of the world.
One, two,
three.
Woo!
I'm in Guatemala,
four weeks and 400 miles
into my journey to walk the length of Central America.
We are walking through the Mayan Biosphere Reserve,
a protected area of tropical forest in northern Guatemala.
There's not many people about but we are definitely not alone.
FAINT ROARING
LOUD GROANING ROARS
Those incredible noises,
that sound like dinosaurs, they are actually howler monkeys.
Let's go and see if we can get closer.
LOUD HOWLING ROARS
Sounds like a combination between a dog and a Tyrannosaurus rex!
These monkeys guard one of the oldest and most mysterious
Mayan cities.
This is Yaxha, and it's unbelievable.
It's one of the most spectacular and biggest ruins in the whole of
Guatemala. And what's incredible is that all of this was built without
even the use of the wheel or any metal tools.
The ancient Maya believed blood had to be spilt
to ensure life on Earth continued.
And these pyramid temples are some of the largest monuments
dedicated to death and sacrifice anywhere in the world.
Built as staircases to reach the gods,
many people climbing these steps
would have been walking to their death.
Wow! We are almost at the top of this pyramid and, from here,
you can see everything, the jungle all around.
This is absolutely incredible.
This is what I live for -
finding places like this around the world.
But now, we're heading south into a very different Guatemala.
DOG BARKS
Northern Guatemala shares a border with Mexico.
Too vast and remote to police, it's now cartel territory.
We've already been warned that this
is a particularly notorious stretch of road
for drug trafficking, smuggling.
Definitely on alert at the moment.
You never know who you are going to bump into.
This area, El Peten, which means the Bush...
..it's where a lot of the Guatemalan drug lords,
they have got their mansions and big houses.
With that comes a bit of edginess.
80% of the cocaine that reaches the US passes through El Peten,
and I'm well aware that walking around with a camera could attract
unwanted attention.
Just hoping that, um...
You know, the fact that we are just a couple of tourists walking through,
they are not going to take any notice of us.
So there's a car that's been following us for a...
for a little while. I think it's the same one that drove past earlier.
They are just stopping now.
'I'm not sure who they are...
'..but the three men in the car insist we get in
'and travel to the next village for lunch.
'With no-one else around, I feel we have to go with them.'
'Half a mile down the road, we arrive at the village.'
You live here?
'Hugo, in the blue T-shirt, says he is an off-duty policeman.
'He and his mates, Walter and Chico, have plenty of questions for me.'
'They are interested in where I've walked before and, in particular,
'my book sales.'
How many did I sell?
'Having answered their questions,
'I'm relieved that we really are here for lunch.'
Looks good, huh? Very good.
So this is...
This is, what, pork or...
Puerco? Puerco.
'It's an uneasy 30 minutes
'and we are about to make our excuses to leave
'before Walter says he wants us to stick around.'
They've invited us back to their house, just to...
He wants to show us his mini-mansion, as he calls it.
'It's impossible to tell who works in the narco trade here
'but illegal drugs are on plain view,
'even in front of someone who says he is an off-duty cop.'
What's this, Walter?
Marijuana.
'Walter doesn't just grow the stuff.'
Wow! That is an absolutely massive reefer!
I think I'll leave that.
It's time to move on, quickly.
'Finally, they let us go.'
Adios!
'Those guys were friendly but El Peten's known for violent robberies,
'extortion, even kidnappings.
'A stranger can't be sure of anything or anyone here,
'but I've told those guys where we are going in Guatemala,
'and now I feel anxious.'
So do you think those guys were the real deal or what?
I don't know.
In Spanish, we were talking, he was asking too much questions.
To be honest, the thing that worried me the most was him asking
how much money we've got and which route we're taking.
This is where we need to start being a bit more cautious
about where we go, who we speak to.
The truth is, anything could happen.
'Still to come... Mother Nature at her most extreme.'
It's not called the mouth of hell for no reason.
'Central America's deadliest city.'
There is literally just a dead body just there.
'Incredible scenery.'
This is next level!
'And the mighty Darien Gap.'
Now we are properly into the jungle.
Subtitles by Ericsson