'When the world ends'

I couldn't help but hum this song over the weekend. I really had no intent to be at the so-called "ground-zero" of the Mayan day of apocalypse, but the NGO I work with had need to be in the north, so north I went. Through no fault of my own I arrived at Palenque--the largest ruins site in the state of Chiapas--where an enormous number of people were gathering (not all with the same intent or purpose) to witness the Solstice.

I am not overly fond of the roads in Chiapas. Some are very poorly planned and are subject to consistent landslides and other mass-wasting events, some are cut through hills with hairpin turns that boggle my mind, and all of them are marked with a extraordinary amount of 'topes' (or speed bumps). The trip from the city to Palenque is about 130 miles, but it is a 5-6 hour meandering bus ride (I dare you to take the "3D tour" on gmaps). So I descended from the highlands at almost 3000 feet into the jungle, which is about 200 feet. It was warmer and sticky. There were bugs, but since it is the dry season, they were fewer and almost no mosquitoes.

Despite the enormous number of people that had descended upon the site, the town, and every inch of possible 'campable' space, it was a moderately successful research trip. Harder, was trying to explain why we were there, if not for the rainbow festival or to pay homage to the red queen (both the one of archaeological interest and the modern incarnation who was accepting rejected rainbowers into her fold). BOT folks will understand though, that as I walked around the loose gathering of huts where we stayed and heard rumors and whispers of where the rainbow was off to next, I couldn't help but giggle. The place was positively overrun with folks trying to make new acquaintance or to find someone sharing/selling something euphoric. However, because we work in communities in resistance, we try to keep a low profile. It really was incredible how many tourists of different shapes and sizes (to not put too fine of a point on it) flocked to the area to find something. The farmers I spoke with about the coming of the sixth sun said that it was of importance to them, but that the end of the calendar/world was a tourist gimmick. The optimist in me hopes that everyone found some meaning...

I did have a couple days off while we were there. The first I used to check out the ruins and the second I spent writing up field notes, reading, and listening to the thundering sound of dry season rain.

I really didn't know very much about Palenque, but I was within walking distance of the site, so it seemed as though I should probably pip over there and see it. I took a number of pictures, and I don't want to lengthen this post overmuch, so here is a link to a slideshow (or you can go to the site where they are housed: PalenqueatSolstice).

Before I left, people asked me about what I thought about the impending world's end and I generally replied that I would be with the Maya, so it would be spectacular. And it was. There seems to be a generally held suspicion that the Maya don't exist anymore. Something that perhaps lends an air of mysticism to apocalyptic tendencies and is no doubt assisted by the fact that they are the most under-served population in the states they inhabit. The ancient Maya abandoned their cities, but the contemporary Maya are carving out a space in urban and rural areas alike.