Stories about Life

Kristine Ellingson tells her stories about life in Tales from the Yucatan Jungle. She describes how she needs to get away after a devastating marriage breakup, but she doesn’t lose heart.

December 21 2012 End date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar may be off by at least 60 days

According to an online Discovery News article by Ian MacNeill, the Mayan end of the world 2012 date might be off by at least 60 days.

The problem has to do with correlating dates in the Mayan Long Count calendar with dates in our present Gregorian calendar. Scholars use a constant called the GMT constant, which refers to the initials of the three men who determined this constant:  Joseph Goodman, Juan Martinez-Hernandez and J. Eric S. Thompson.

Carol Chapman, author of the End of the World 2012 EBook

The Land of the ancient Maya

The Yucatan Peninsula showing the location of Mayan ruins sites

As you can see from the map of the Yucatan Peninsula on the right, there are Mayan ruin sites in the Mexican states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco (where Tabasco Sauce comes from), and Chiapas.

There are also Mayan ruins in the countries of Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.

Of course, the ancient Maya–the ones who wrote the Mayan prophecies and made the Mayan calendar–did not think of the area as the map looks today with separate Mexican states and separate countries.

For them, it was all the land where they lived with different centers of power where large populations lived. These are today’s Mayan ruins sites.

And today, even though this land is separated into different countries and different Mexican states, it is still the land where the Maya live–the modern-day Maya who are the descendants of the ancient Maya.

The Maya have lived in this area for thousands of years.

Carol Chapman, director/producer of the End of the World 2012 Movie and the Yucatan Travel Movie

Many people believe the ancient Mayans died away

The Maya live in the Yucatan Peninsula, which is in southern Mexico, and also includes parts of northern Central America.

With all of the buzz about the Mayan Prophecies for December 21, 2012, some people believe that the Maya are a dead race–that there are no Maya alive today. I guess these people believe this since the 2012 Mayan prophecy was made by the ancient Maya, there must not be any modern Maya. Not so.

There’s so much talk about the Maya, but there aren’t many people who know who they are. The Maya are an indigenous group. They live in Central America in Mexico. As of the year 2000, there were seven million of them. They are the largest indigenous group in the Americas. According to some sources, they may be the largest indigenous group in the world.

They suffered under the Spanish who tried to annihilate them in the “Caste War.” It started in 1847 and lasted for 54 years ending on May 5th, 1901. The Spanish slaughtered the Maya, trying to totally get rid of them.

But the Maya people themselves are very determined and steadfast and are producing lots of babies. I have that on good authority that they are replenishing their numbers.

Excerpted from the End of the World 2012 EBook and the End of the World 2012 Book.

Carol Chapman, director/producer of the  End of the World 2012 Movie

Mayan end of the world prophecies influenced by Spanish conquerers

Interestingly, Europeans feared the end of the world as long ago as the 1500s, during the time the Spanish were exploring and conquering the Americas. The 2012 end of the world mania is not new.

Notably, Hoopes said, Mayan end-of-the-world prophecies don’t appear in the historical record until after the group made contact with Christian missionaries — a bunch of people with their own strong beliefs about the end of days.
In fact, astrological end-time predictions were popular in the 1500s, when Franciscan missionaries began voyaging to the New World. In 1524, Hoopes said, an astrological conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter spurred fears of a second Great Flood, touching off panic.
“They were actually preparing for this catastrophe by buying real estate on high places and by stocking up on whatever the 16th-century equivalent of duct tape and bottled water was,” Hoopes said.
Biblical doomsday predictions would have certainly made it to Mayan ears, Hoopes said. In other words, Mayan prophecies simply appropriated Christian theology.
“The world for the Mayas really did end in the Spanish conquest,” Hoopes said. “So they incorporated that into their explanation of what was happening to them.”
11/11/11 How Friday is Tied to the Mayan Apolocalypse

French Archaeologist Brasseur Named Mu

According to the Unexplained Stuff website’s article Lemuria and Mu, Brasseur traveled to Spain where he deciphered an ancient Mayan manuscript using a guide to Mayan hieroglyphics. He found the guide in a Madrid library. Based on his translation of the ancient Mayan manuscript, Brasseur said the land that had fallen into the ocean was called Mu.

The Atlantes and Atlantis

A coincidence or what! In Yucatan, among Mayan ruins, there are ancient statues that are supposed to be holding up the world called Atlantes. Is that Atlantes or Atlantis? Where did these Atlantes get their name? What difference, if any, is there between the pronunciation of Atlantes and Atlantis. It could very well be only a difference in interpreting the spoken word. They are probably the same word!

Maya Actors Used in Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto

A blog post by Erick Laseca who works for Burson-Marsteller as public relations liaison for the Mexico Tourism Board in Chicago begins with:

The height of Mayan civilization may have ended some 1600 years ago, but this enigmatic empire seems to be making a come-back. This past Friday, December 8th, movie theaters across North America released Mel Gibson’s much-anticipated feature, Apocalypto, filmed in Mexico, bringing the late, great Mayan civilization to life on the big screen.

Mexican Mayans Descendant Make Debut in Apocalypto

Although I disagree with Laseca’s calling the Maya, “Mayans,” nonetheless, I found his comprehensive article on the Maya informative, entertaining and interesting. After all, it might be that Laseca uses the term “Mayans” since it works better as a keyword search phrase, “Maya” more often bringing up Maya Angelou.

During filming of the Yucatan Travel Movie, we visited the ruins at Edzna, which is supposed to be the ruin Mel Gibson chose as the model for his Mayan ruin set in the movie Apocalypto. We loved Edzna. The Palace of the Five Stories is gorgeous.

Calakmul, Off the Tourist Path

Calakmul is the place to visit in the Yucatan if you want to see ancient Mayan ruins undisturbed by hordes of tourists. In addition, most of the structures can still be climbed as described in the following blog post:

Calakmul, lacking either buses or roped-off stairways, is proving to be the largest city of the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-925), when the Maya’s great accomplishments in architecture, astronomy, writing, painting and sculpture peaked. But only the most motivated tourists find their way to this patch of southern Campeche, two hours off the highway between the Yucatan’s two coasts.

Calakmul offers glimpse of ancient Maya history

While filming the Yucatan Travel Movie, we were strongly advised by people receiving my enewsletter that we must visit Calakmul. Unfortunately, we could not fit it into our itinerary. I hope that when we finally can get to Calakmul, it will still be as pristine and undisturbed as described in the above article.

Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman

Best to Visit Tulum by Watching a Video

After disembarking from a cruise ship docked at Isla Cozumel, a passenger describes seasickness on the ferry to the mainland, interminable lines of hordes of people waiting for transportation to the ruin at Tulum, then waiting in an endless to get into the ruin, followed by a visit to the ruin in 90 degree heat with little shade. Her conclusion?

I can come to only one conclusion: Despite my love of travel and exploration-based education, I feel that what would really bring Tulum alive is a well-made HD documentary with engaging narration…and a front row seat on your own couch.

— Doin’ Time at the Ruins in Tulum

Reading about “TravelWitihTwo.com’s” adventure in Tulum, I feel happy and grateful that I am making the Yucatan Travel Movie to help people like her out. I am also very grateful that we traveled in a rental car and arrived before the hordes of tourists dependent upon tour buses.