The end.

We interpret prophecy; we predict raptures and Armageddon; we plaster our doomsday forecast on T.V. and in papers across the globe–and wait.  Some laugh and carry-on, while others stock food in their brand-new bomb shelters. We anticipate, with an almost warped fascination, our demise.

It passes. And so it goes.

Recently, I traveled to the Yucatan Peninsula to visit the Mundo Maya. The year 2012 is a special time to visit the sacred ruins, and more specifically, December 21st. According to the Maya Long-Count Calendar, this is the end of the 13^th Bak’tun—the end of the current era.

El Castillo in Chichén Itzá

As I packed my suitcase for the adventure, I received phone call after phone call from friends going into great detail about body mutilations, severed heads, and ongoing drug wars. “Are you crazy? Body parts are washing up on beaches there!” friends warned.

Eager to learn more about the Maya people and with enough sense to know I was traveling to one of the many incredibly safe places in Mexico, I politely fielded their disconcerting questions.  And to be on the safe side, I threw some Imodium into my suitcase and called myself prepared. (We all know our biggest threat in Mexico is Montezuma’s revenge.)

Do the Maya people, in fact, think that December 21^st, 2012 will be the end of the world? Will I be walking down the beach and discover a severed body part wash ashore, tangled in seaweed?

The eight-ball says, “Most likely,  no.”

Upon arriving to the Yucatan Peninsula, I had the opportunity to walk the grounds of the Maya ruins to witness them myself, and I was fortunate enough to do so while chatting with resident archeologists, Dr. Julia Miller and Alfonso Morales of Catherwood Travels.  We visited Chichen-Itza, Cobá, and Tulum of the Riviera Maya.

(Guide and resident archeologist, Alfonso Morales, of Catherwood Travels)

I couldn’t even begin to expect to absorb all of the knowledge they possess regarding the Maya people, but I was happy to get the bottom of this whole “end of the world” thing.  And what exactly is a Bak’tun, anyway?

A Bak’tun is a cyclic event occurring every 5,125 years: 13 periods of 144,000 days. The last Bak’tun ended August 11, 3114 BC. Today, one artifact remains known as the Tortuguero inscription that actually mentions the year 2012. This fact alone, I find astonishing. They knew we would be here. Were they optimistic? Would they like what we’ve become?

Walking among the ruins with a guide enhanced the experience all-together.  They pyramids became more than what met the eye. Behind every temple, hieroglyph, numerical symbol is a story—a piece to a puzzle that helps us understand and relate to a truly fascinating culture.

(Serpent at Chichén Itzá)

The Maya were farmers–hence, their need for accurate measurements of time. They had political councils, and large communities with city centers and rural areas.  They were immensely knowledgeable about how to use, and properly manage, natural resources.

They practiced sustainability before it was even cool.

Most likely, this explains how they survived on such unforgiving land—areas that even now are less populated than they were during the Classic Maya periods. The Yucatan Peninsula housed and fed approximately 2 million Maya: nearly the same as today, but without modern technology and convenience.

I watched as sunburnt, bathing-suit clad tourists posed in front of sacred ruins. The occasional showoff would slip behind the rope and flash a rebellious grin to the camera. I even joined the herd of tourists climbing the crumbling temple, Nohuch Mul, of Cobá—still feeling a tinge of guilt despite visitors’ permission to do so.

(Climbing Nohuch Mul of the Coba ruins with travel partner in crime, Blane Bachelor)

To the Maya, one Bak’tun merely echoes the next, like a season, and like their crops. They come, they go. They live, they die, they come again. And so it goes. In theory, what a pleasant way to live: not in fear of an inconsequential end, but to lead an existence of ownership, responsibility, and understanding of the need to care for the Earth and its inhabitants for which we’re connected. It’s an empowering notion.

Maybe we shouldn’t be so concerned about the end, but rather be more concerned about other things—like no end.  We can learn a lot from the Maya. We marvel at what they’ve left behind and with good reason.

Maybe the world doesn’t slowly progress down the linear timeline of human existence. Maybe with the end of something, is the beginning of something—an opportunity to right our wrongs.

Maybe we should live like there isn’t an end too. And maybe the new beginning couldn’t have come at a better time.

Thanks to Traveldudes and the Mexican Board of Tourism for making this trip possible.

A big thanks to Laura Nazimiec of Go Mexico Guide for contributing the following post as the March 30th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a feature post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month.

You may be surprised when I tell you that my favorite place to spend a Sunday morning in Mexico City is along the Paseo de la Reforma, the city’s normally traffic-clogged main thoroughfare.

This is a roadway that sees tens of thousands of vehicles on an average day, in a city where pedestrians and cyclists are rarely afforded the right of way.

After a long week of sitting in traffic, fighting for standing room on the Metro and trying to cross the street as impatient motorists stop within inches of my thigh, you’d think a busy boulevard would be the last place I’d want to spend my weekend and normally you’d be right.

But on Sundays, all of that changes.

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Thanks to Jessica Seba, expert on all things Mexico,  for contributing the following post as the October 30th Featured Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month!

Ever since I was little, Halloween was always my favorite holiday. Haunted houses, trick-or-treating, orange and black galore, I always loved the spooky feel. Fall was always my favorite season and our Michigan Indian Summers made for the perfect weather for the skanky costumes I found myself wearing in college! Somehow along the way Halloween became more of a whore show than a horror show and I’m pretty sure the Halloween party scene from Mean Girls sums it up best (you know which one I’m talking about!) By my Senior year of college, I was disappointed with what the spectacle had become and thought to myself,‘instead of spending hundreds of dollars on some barely-there costume, parties, and drinks, why don’t I buy a plane ticket to Mexico to learn about Dia de los Muertos!” …..and 30 minutes later after this brilliant idea, that is exactly what I did!

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