Apocalypse Tourism: Where To Celebrate Doomsday? 233
PolygamousRanchKid writes "December 21, 2012 marks the end of the current cycle of the Mayan 'Long Count' calendar. And while this has had some fearful types preparing for the end of the world, others have been preparing to travel. The Mexican government is expecting 52 million tourists as part of their "Mundo Maya 2012," campaign to visit the five regions — Chiapas, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Campeche, over the next 12 months. So, if you're wondering where to spend the last tourist dollars you'll have as a breathing human being or just want to see the looks on those faces when December 21 comes and goes uneventfully, President Felipe Calderon hopes you'll choose Mexico."
Re:The scary thing is (Score:5, Informative)
Care to cite? I can't find shit about this. I think you're a fucking troll.
Yeah I'm a fucking troll I admit it .. and here is a citation that I just whipped up in Wikipedia in order to support my trolling (I especially like the inserting articles into the BBC). Note that I prepared this ahead of time and did not just find it after googling for say 2 minutes.
Concerned Christians [wikipedia.org]
Now all you people modding me down can just go and suck it.
It was all a big joke. Get over it! (Score:5, Informative)
The whole 2012 thing all started as a joke. Michael Coe (one of the world's top Mayanists) noticed that the calander ran out in 2012. In one of his papers, he put s footnote to the effect of: "Perhaps it is the end of the world." That is where this whole thing started from.
I get to work with a number of Mayan groups for my chocolate factory (Amano Artisan Chocolate) who grow some of our cocoa beans. Every group that I have had the opportunity to work with has told me that they see life and the calander as cycles. Given that, they don't see it as the end of the world so much as the beginning of a new cycle. They don't see it as the end of the world at all. It is really humorous to see folks in the "modern" world taking this end of the world thing far more seriously than the Mayan groups I work with.
Just a point of note, these native Mayan groups are composed of some really wonderful people. If you ever get a chance to go down to Mayan territory and are able to get away from the tourist haunts and into the more remote areas, I highly recommend it.
Re:End drug prohibition and I'll visit (Score:5, Informative)
I laughed :-) we just changed that btw: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016720231_elexliquor09m.html [nwsource.com]
Yucatan's nowhere near the US Border (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, if you go up to Juarez or some other border town, start flashing around lots of cash, and tell people you're trying to get into the wholesale import/export business, there are many people who will consider you to be a target and others who will consider you to be DEA bait because nobody'd be that stupid otherwise.
But the Maya region is the far other end of the country, there's very little gang activity, and the Zapatista rebellion has been quiet for years as well. Sure, there are pickpockets and corrupt cops*, so you'll have to think about which pocket to carry your cash in (:-), but basically you'll be fine. Chichen Itza is stunning, and you want to go there, as well as Tulum or some of the sites farther south. Merida and some of the other colonial towns are really cool, though I'd recommend not planning a trip for mid-summer (too hot) or hurricane season. Cancun has endless supplies of beaches, margaritas, and tourist traps if you want that kind of vacation, but there's also some Mexican or Mayan culture around there if you look for it.
* ( A friend of mine went there back in the late 90s, and drove into Merida about 4am. The bad part of having cops pull him over to extort a bribe was having to pay them $40; the good part was having them give him a lights-blinking escort through town because it was easier than explaining the directions to his hotel.)