Tough Trucks of Guatemala

In this episode Zay Harding travels by truck through Central America’s toughest and most spectacular country, Guatemala.

Starting his journey from the National Palace in the centre of Guatemala City, from where all distances in the country are measured, Zay heads first to the dramatic ruins of the ancient Maya city of Mixco Viejo in the highlands just outside the capital.  To get there, he travels on a vibrantly colourful old school bus, driven down from the USA and then reconditioned with a powerful truck engine in order to cope with Guatemala’s challenging mountainous terrain.

Heading on along the country’s main road, the Pan American Highway, in a large 18-wheeler truck, Zay discovers that just as most of Guatemala’s buses are driven down through Mexico from the USA – so are most of Guatemala’s big trucks. Transferring onto a local truck heading up into Guatemala’s highest mountain range, Zay visits one of the country’s most beautiful and traditional villages, Todos Santos Cuchumatan, as it celebrates its annual fiesta with a truly remarkable, and extremely dangerous, drunken horse race.

Continuing his journey by hitching a ride along Guatemala’s most dangerous road, running the gauntlet of a tectonic fault that causes frequent and fatal landslides, Zay passes through beautiful orchid-filled highland cloud forests en route to the remote lowland jungle of northern Guatemala.

Heading further and further into the wilderness along treacherously muddy tracks through the rainforest, Zay breathes a sigh of relief as he eventually arrives safely at his final destination, Tikal, the most spectacular of all ancient Maya cities.

Credits

Presenter

ZAY HARDING

with thanks to

IDAEH

INGUAT

RENE RODRIGUEZ

TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATAN

ORQUIGONIA

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titles & graphics

MARTINA DEO

*

camera

GARY ROGERS

*

facilities

GUILTFREE POST

dubbing mixer

JOHN PURCELL

*

editors

LUKE THOMPSON

online editor

DANNY DAVIS

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music by

COLIN WINSTON FLETCHER

MALCOLM LAWS

NAINITA DESAI

ANDREW HEWITT

STIG MANLEY

MARK TAYLER

PAUL MOUNSEY

JOHN WYGENS

MICHAEL CONN

IAN RITCHIE

*

post production coordinators

EMILIO REY

JAKE CHRISTIAN

production accountant

RASHIDA PATEL

production manager

TARA BENSON

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executive producer

IAN CROSS

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produced and directed by

CHRIS LEDGER

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Produced by Pilot Film and TV Productions for Travel Channel International

© Pilot Productions MMXVIII