Yucatan, Mexico

The End of the End of the World


Shaman Adolph
Xaman Adolfo carries out a purification ceremony in the Mayan village of Pac-Chen.
Mayan Death II
Chichen Itza skull reliefs provide a basis for performing Mayan sacrifices.
Mayan death
Detail of one of the skulls of the Mayan temple of Chichen Itza, temple the subject of countless predictions and professions.
vision of heaven
Man contemplates the complex around the top of the Kukulcan pyramid
old new age
A billboard makes humor with the Mayan Profession of the End of the World.
On Rails
Guide drives visitors to the Chunkanan hacienda in a carriage on rails.
protected pond
Lagoon full of crocodiles in the village of Pac-Chen, in the state of Quintana Roo.
Mayan representation
Colorful replicas of Mayan artefacts decorate Xcaret Park, on the Maia Riviera.
End of the World at the Bottom
Bathers refresh themselves in the cold waters of one of the cenotes of the old hacienda Chunkanan.
Calakmul
Sun sets over the jungle that covers the Yucatan Peninsula and illuminates one of Calakmul's pyramids.
Another door to the infra-world
Entry to a Cenote near Tulum, Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Staircase to the Infra-World
One of countless entrances to the underworld that dot the tropical Yucatan peninsula.
Mayan Witchcraft Reenactment
An extra of a Mayan priest animates the themed show at Xcaret Park, in the province of Quintana Roo.
Quetzacoatl to double
Heads of the god Quetzacoatl in Chichen Itza.
Profession?
Vultures absorb solar heat on top of one of Edzná's pyramids
Shaman Adolph
Xaman Adolfo carries out a purification ceremony in the Mayan village of Pac-Chen.
The announced day passed but the End of the World insisted on not arriving. In Central America, today's Mayans watched and put up with incredulity all the hysteria surrounding their calendar.

The middle of December was approaching.

As was to be expected, the number of curious people, scholars and journalists arriving in Mexican lands in the Yucatan increased.

The van that was supposed to transport us in the state of Quintana Roo arrives late. We are convinced that, even so, it is exclusive to us, but when we open the door we find inside a figure as unusual as it is recognizable.

Paul Monzón, a Peruvian colleague living in Madrid who we had recently met in Caracas, wasted no time.

The game with the unavoidable theme had to be repeated over and over again: “Don't tell me you're also coming to avoid the end of the world. I am the chosen one. I'm trying to see if I can find a special stone, the only one that can avoid disgrace”.

Rio Secreto: one of the Countless Entrances to the InfraMundo Maya.

We enjoy his goofy introduction and catch up on the conversation as we're led to the Rio Secreto, one of so many unofficial yet fascinating entrances from the region to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld.

Bathers-Cenote de Cuzamá, Mérida, Mexico

Bathers refresh themselves in the cold waters of one of the cenotes of the old Chunkanan hacienda, one of the entrances to the Xibalba

According to several scientific articles and the prevailing theory resulting from the discovery, in 1978, of Glen Penfield, this region was once the core of a kind of previous end, unlike the caricatured by Paul, real and unpredictable.

While looking for black gold for the company PEMEX – Petróleos Mexicanos, the geophysicist found a 300km diameter crater supposedly formed by a meteorite collision about 65 million years ago.

It would later be given the name of a village in its geometric center, Chicxulub.

The Meteorite That Will Have Driven the Dinosaurs to Extinction

The impact caused one of the biggest tsunamis ever, several thousand meters high. A cloud of superheated dust, ash and steam has spread from the crater since the moment the meteorite sank.

Materials from the planet's surface and asteroid debris were projected out of the atmosphere and heated to incandescence as they re-entered burning the surface already in the process of combustion due to possibly global fires.

Meanwhile, massive shock waves have triggered widespread earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The emission of dust and other particles blocked the passage of sunlight. They caused a strong cooling and made the survival of dinosaurs and most beings unfeasible.

Vultures, Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Vultures absorb solar heat on top of one of Edzná's pyramids

This end dragged on for many millennia of prehistory but, as it had already happened, the resilient Earth and her miraculous life prevailed.

The Cenotes, the Xibalba and As Remotes Mayan Origins

Today, even in the limestone depths carved by the collapse of the crater walls – the countless cenotes and peninsula caves – improbable creatures are found: blind and leaping crickets with enormous sensory antennas to indigenous guides with nasal speech caused by sinusitis and determined outsiders who are not well prepared for those amphibious environments.

This is the case with Paul, who reveals a deep panic of any less shallow water, refuses all attempts to help him cross turquoise-flooded galleries, and forces his hosts to lead him along an alternate dry route: “This way, Paul! There's another pond out there, don't get involved in that!”

Born in Peru, even if he doesn't know it, Paul may have Inca, Quechua or any other ethnicity in the area.

These days, we must believe that their eventual distant ancestors benefited from the cold of the last ice age. That without any kind of swimming, they managed to cross the Bering Strait from Asia to the Americas, where they distributed themselves as the Earth warmed.

There, they acquired unique characteristics resulting from the mutation of the original genetics under the influence of the ecosystems they encountered, from the Alaskan tundra to the tropical jungle to which the neighboring people called Maya would adapt in much of Central America.

Pac Chen Lagoon, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Lagoon full of crocodiles in the village of Pac-Chen, in the state of Quintana Roo.

Pac-Chen: the Sloping Pond the Mayans Reveal to the World

Later we visited together Pac-Chen (Sloping Pond) where a community of that ethnicity organized to provide foreigners with radical experiences.

There, we zipline over a pond in which crocodiles swim. Afterwards, we are blessed by the resident shaman Adolfo who, before allowing us to take a look at the village's large cenote, purifies us with sacred fumes and prayers in the native language.

Xaman, Pac-chen Quintana Roo, Mexico

Xaman Adolfo carries out a purification ceremony in the Mayan village of Pac-Chen.

The Peruvian colleague then returns to the attack. Ask for a few minutes for a short interview. Your questions are simple and straightforward. They get different reactions.

As we feared, the last one addresses the credibility of the popular end of this era and the respective end of the world.

Adolfo is annoyed. Take a deep breath and evade the topic. “My only belief is that you must worship the mighty God who is in heaven.

That's my only belief.” We confirm that the disgust with the question comes from afar and is shared by most of its counterparts.

The Mystical and Worshiping Civilization of the Land of the Mayans

It is known that, for some time, the Mayan people enjoyed favorable conditions and, divided by tribal groups, sometimes allies in other adversaries.

The Mayans spoke nearly 50 dialects, developed an advanced civilization whose gods were the natural elements, atmospheric phenomena and celestial bodies, with both Good (day, life, sun) and Evil (night, death, jaguar) being considered divine.

Accordingly, the Mayans were diehard astronomers, astrologers, and numerologists.

Quetzacoatl, Chichen Itza, Mexico

Heads of the god Quetzacoatl in Chichen Itza.

“Well, it looks like they've seen almost all of the archaeological complexes,” says Wilberth Salas Pech, our semi-Mayan guide from state of Campeche, just kidding. “We have to go through Tortuguero. That's where the big secret is, he quips."

The Mayan Stelas and the Mayan Apocalyptic Prophesies

According to what we learned, that historic site was pillaged several times and housed a cement factory.

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, three scientists discovered in Monument 6 a stele that refers to the end of the 13th Baktun (5125 years of our calendar) verified on the winter solstice that would take place on December 21, 2012.

The most recent and possible translation by Sven Gronemeyer and Barbara MacLeod says (several pieces are missing from the stele) which, in addition to this information, also communicates that “a vision will occur; the public appearance (or exhibition?) of B'Olon-Yookte at the time of his investiture.

Mayan Art, Xcaret, Mexico

Colorful replicas of Mayan artefacts decorate Xcaret Park, on the Maia Riviera.

According to Mayan mythology, B'OlonYookte K'Uh' would refer to the Nine Lords of Night, nine gods each of which ruler over nine-night cycles.

In turn, the Mayan work of the Quiche group, Popol Vuh claims that the gods created three failed worlds. That the fourth world prospered, succeeded, and became the home of man today.

According to your description, each of the previous worlds ended at the end of the 13th baktun.

This closing of the cycle was at the origin of one of the most frivolous fevers of eschatological premonitions in recent times.

The Inevitable Analysis, Theories and Counter Theories

The esoteric writer John Major Jenkins assured that, on that date, the Sun would position itself over Xibalba Be, “the black path” galactic of the Mayans.

From this and other conclusions, mythological narratives and interpretations, countless figures, sects and entities emerged with other apocalyptic theories invariably disproved by science.

Skull relief, Chichen Itza, Mexico

Detail of skull of Chichen Itza, temple the subject of numerous predictions and professions, including the End of the World.

The American channels History, Discovery and National Geographic were at the forefront of media pollution and broadcast a series of series that described terrestrial “ends” caused by solar storms for which the Earth would not be prepared due to a sudden geomagnetic pole reversal.

Also earthquakes, super volcanoes, plagues, collisions with asteroids, droughts, new glacial periods, extraterrestrial invasions or whatever was scary enough.

However, another stele found in the Temple of Inscriptions of Palenque contemplates that the temple wheel will always continue to rotate and even mentions the date of 4,722 AD, when 20 will be completed. baktuns (1 piktun) since the last creation of Cosmos.

Helper Maia, Xcaret, Mexico

An extra of a Mayan priest animates the themed show at Xcaret Park, in the province of Quintana Roo.

In turn, the 10th stele of Tikal (in Guatemala) counts 20 picktunes and thus projects a planetary future of millions of years.

But all over the world and, of course, especially in the United States, thousands of Preps remained alert. They clustered around Mayan or non-Mayan End of the World beliefs.

They built shelters, accumulated canned food and weapons to defend themselves from the attacks of other human beings. Many have signed up for survival courses such as those from the Sigma 3 company.

We took a look at one of these programs in a restaurant in Campeche.

We are indignant when we see how references to the invented end of the Mayan calendar are freely interspersed with images of Yankee citizens grouped in the countryside under shelters made of dry leaves and semi-automatic rifles at the ready because, in the words of one of these preps:

“When desperate, people do all sorts of crazy things” and, according to another inscription, “Civilizations fall. That's history. Things aren't as safe as we'd like them to be.”

It was recently revealed that Nancy Lanza, the mother of the young assassin from Newtown High School was one of these paranoid characters, the owner of five registered guns.

His distraught son carried out a sacrifice worthy of the worst slaughters perpetrated in the name of the gods, on the towers of Chichen Itza or Ek Balam. He was visibly desperate.

Mayan Pyramid, Chichen Itza, Mexico

Man contemplates the complex around the top of the Kukulcan pyramid

Fed up with so much distortion and exploitation of their culture, Guatemala's Mayan leaders took the trouble to express that "they are against deception, lies, distortions, folklore and the commercialization of their culture."

Against interpretations that “distort the true meaning of the cycles of time”.

Yucatan, Mexico

The Sidereal Murphy's Law That Doomed the Dinosaurs

Scientists studying the crater caused by a meteorite impact 66 million years ago have come to a sweeping conclusion: it happened exactly over a section of the 13% of the Earth's surface susceptible to such devastation. It is a threshold zone on the Mexican Yucatan peninsula that a whim of the evolution of species allowed us to visit.
Cobá to Pac Chen, Mexico

From the Ruins to the Mayan Homes

On the Yucatan Peninsula, the history of the second largest indigenous Mexican people is intertwined with their daily lives and merges with modernity. In Cobá, we went from the top of one of its ancient pyramids to the heart of a village of our times.
Overall, Mexico

The Most Caribbean of the Mayan Ruins

Built by the sea as an exceptional outpost decisive for the prosperity of the Mayan nation, Tulum was one of its last cities to succumb to Hispanic occupation. At the end of the XNUMXth century, its inhabitants abandoned it to time and to an impeccable coastline of the Yucatan peninsula.
Izamal, Mexico

The Holy, Yellow and Beautiful Mexican City

Until the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, Izamal was a center of worship for the supreme Mayan god Itzamná and Kinich Kakmó, the one of the sun. Gradually, the invaders razed the various pyramids of the natives. In its place, they built a large Franciscan convent and a prolific colonial houses, with the same solar tone in which the now Catholic city shines.
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The Most Exuberant of Meridas

In 25 BC, the Romans founded Emerita Augusta, capital of Lusitania. The Spanish expansion generated three other Méridas in the world. Of the four, the Yucatan capital is the most colorful and lively, resplendent with Hispanic colonial heritage and multi-ethnic life.
Campeche, Mexico

Campeche Upon Can Pech

As was the case throughout Mexico, the conquerors arrived, saw and won. Can Pech, the Mayan village, had almost 40 inhabitants, palaces, pyramids and an exuberant urban architecture, but in 1540 there were less than 6 natives. Over the ruins, the Spaniards built Campeche, one of the most imposing colonial cities in the Americas.
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The Home Sweet Home of Mexican Social Conscience

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Mexico City, Mexico

mexican soul

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The City Lost in the Mystery of the Incas

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PN Tayrona, Colombia

Who Protects the Guardians of the World?

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Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
Safari
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

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Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
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Architecture & Design
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Full Dog Mushing
Adventure
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

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cowboys oceania, rodeo, el caballo, perth, australia
Ceremonies and Festivities
Perth, Australia

The Oceania Cowboys

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Creepy Goddess Graffiti, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America
Cities
The Haight, San Francisco, USA

Orphans of the Summer of Love

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Beverage Machines, Japan
Meal
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The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
khinalik, Azerbaijan Caucasus village, Khinalig
Culture
Chinalig, Azerbaijan

The Village at the Top of Azerbaijan

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Herd in Manang, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Traveling
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Promise?
Ethnic
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To Goa, Quickly and in Strength

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portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
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History
San Juan, Puerto Rico (Part 2)

To the Rhythm of Reggaeton

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Gran Canaria, island, Canary Islands, Spain, La Tejeda
Islands
Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Grand Canary Islands

It is only the third largest island in the archipelago. It so impressed European navigators and settlers that they got used to treating it as the supreme.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
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A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

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Literature
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The Island that Leaned against Paradise

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Huang Shan, China

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Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

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Cliffs above the Valley of Desolation, near Graaf Reinet, South Africa
Natural Parks
Graaf-Reinet, South Africa

A Boer Spear in South Africa

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Kiomizudera, Kyoto, a Millennial Japan almost lost
UNESCO World Heritage
Kyoto, Japan

An Almost Lost Millennial Japan

Kyoto was on the US atomic bomb target list and it was more than a whim of fate that preserved it. Saved by an American Secretary of War in love with its historical and cultural richness and oriental sumptuousness, the city was replaced at the last minute by Nagasaki in the atrocious sacrifice of the second nuclear cataclysm.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Characters
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Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

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Plane landing, Maho beach, Sint Maarten
Beaches
Maho Beach, Sint Maarten

The Jet-powered Caribbean Beach

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Religion
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Sera, the Monastery of the Sacred Debate

In few places in the world a dialect is used as vehemently as in the monastery of Sera. There, hundreds of monks, in Tibetan, engage in intense and raucous debates about the teachings of the Buddha.
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mini-snorkeling
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Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Back to Danny Boyle's The Beach

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Daily life
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

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Newborn turtle, PN Tortuguero, Costa Rica
Wildlife
PN Tortuguero, Costa Rica

A Night at the Nursery of Tortuguero

The name of the Tortuguero region has an obvious and ancient reason. Turtles from the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea have long flocked to the black sand beaches of its narrow coastline to spawn. On one of the nights we spent in Tortuguero we watched their frenzied births.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.