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Moon Maya 2012: A Guide to Celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras
December 21, 2012 is an important date for the Maya; it marks the end of the Long Count, a 5,125-year cycle of the Maya calendar, and the world’s transition into a new era. Some believe this transition will be peaceful; others warn it will be nothing short of explosive. But there's one thing everyone can agree on: Traveling to the Mundo Maya in the year 2012 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunityand it’s not to be missed.
Travelers to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras in 2012 can expect a yearlong celebration of Maya culture, past and presentand Moon Maya 2012 is the guide to the best of these celebrations. From Palenque and Tulum to Tikal and Uaxactún, from Caracol to Copán, Central America expert Joshua Berman details the top offerings of each destination: Maya-themed sporting events and reenactments, ceremonies, dances, festivals, important archaeological sites, and more. Packed with strategies for planning a 2012 trip, lists of the organizations and tourism boards offering the best packages and tours, and easy-to-read maps to help you navigate your way through them all, Moon Maya 2012 gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.
Travelers to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras in 2012 can expect a yearlong celebration of Maya culture, past and presentand Moon Maya 2012 is the guide to the best of these celebrations. From Palenque and Tulum to Tikal and Uaxactún, from Caracol to Copán, Central America expert Joshua Berman details the top offerings of each destination: Maya-themed sporting events and reenactments, ceremonies, dances, festivals, important archaeological sites, and more. Packed with strategies for planning a 2012 trip, lists of the organizations and tourism boards offering the best packages and tours, and easy-to-read maps to help you navigate your way through them all, Moon Maya 2012 gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.
98 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 8, 2011
Travelers who plan to explore the Mayan world this coming year need this book! Even the seasoned trekker with a worn and patched backpack, creased boots, frayed hat and a passport bulging with extra pages will want to buy Maya 2012 before it’s sold out. It has it all: great maps, background information, descriptions of tours, transportation and discount hotels. It also contains conversion tables, an index, Mayan words and phrases, interesting interviews with important Mayan scholars and even a suggested reading list. This ain’t no guide to overpriced hotels and do-dads but a book written for us serious wayfarers.
For those with only a whiff of Mayan history, this book will convince you that the place to be on December 21, 2012 is standing within the shadow of a Mayan pyramid. That is the date when a 5,126 year Mayan era ends and a new one begins. That’s right– a new one which means the world ain’t going to end just yet. Real estate prices have to increase first. Mayans predicted that this new era would be of “transformation” or possibly “movement.” Scholars disagree on the translation. Across four nations, there will be celebrations. I’ll be there too, doffing my cowboy hat to pretty girls, smiling and talkin’. “Bax ka’ wali?” If they don’t smile, I’ll add in Spanish, “¡Qué linda! Ven por acá bonita.” Course I’ll only do this while my wife is off buying a soft drink. She has no sense of humor but quite a good sense of revenge (like Lorena Bobbitt). Being an Aztec, you can’t be too careful, especially when you’re sleepin’.
If you are a Central American novice, the Mayan people created a great civilization between 1800 B.C. and about 900 A.D. (about when Rome fell). Over a three thousand year span, they became great mathematicians (inventing the zero centuries before the Europeans discovered it in the Middle East), wonderful astronomers (who correctly predicted that our solar system would pass through the center of the Milky Way on December 21, 2012), as well as a practical people. They built great cities aligned with the southern cross, created a calendar more accurate than that of the Europeans five centuries later and authored a written language which we can now read. The Greeks of the New World, they cultivated corn, vanilla, chocolate, squash, beans, chili pepper, manioc and onions. They also grew cotton and wove cloth. They traveled hundreds of miles by long canoe, collected salt and also mined and processed copper into half-moon shaped blades used with a handle. They mined and traded turquoise. They also used natural rubber to create a ball and invented an interesting sport played on stone courts. Rumor has it even they could beat the pumas. Like the Greeks, they were lords over city-states which vied for power, sometimes in confederations. Today, scientists believe that their great cities were abandoned after long droughts that led to starvation and war.
The book is printed with dual columns, color photos and maps. Normally, I buy three different guide books with a credit card, run to a photocopy joint, copy the good stuff, paste it on paper and then ask the clerk to put a binding on it. Once accomplished, I return the book for credit, most naturally. But not this one! Heck this book not only has everything but also fits into your cargo pants’ leg pocket! That’s right–forget the backpack. The book slides right into your pocket. There’s climate data, information about tourist seasons, recommendations for shots. Whew! Baby, it don’t get better than this. Lorenzo sez five stars.
The author is another former volunteer, por supuesto. He’s been guiding folks around these four countries for more than a decade and it shows. He’s also written two other guides: one for Belize and one for Nicaragua. Buy a book written by a maestro.
For those with only a whiff of Mayan history, this book will convince you that the place to be on December 21, 2012 is standing within the shadow of a Mayan pyramid. That is the date when a 5,126 year Mayan era ends and a new one begins. That’s right– a new one which means the world ain’t going to end just yet. Real estate prices have to increase first. Mayans predicted that this new era would be of “transformation” or possibly “movement.” Scholars disagree on the translation. Across four nations, there will be celebrations. I’ll be there too, doffing my cowboy hat to pretty girls, smiling and talkin’. “Bax ka’ wali?” If they don’t smile, I’ll add in Spanish, “¡Qué linda! Ven por acá bonita.” Course I’ll only do this while my wife is off buying a soft drink. She has no sense of humor but quite a good sense of revenge (like Lorena Bobbitt). Being an Aztec, you can’t be too careful, especially when you’re sleepin’.
If you are a Central American novice, the Mayan people created a great civilization between 1800 B.C. and about 900 A.D. (about when Rome fell). Over a three thousand year span, they became great mathematicians (inventing the zero centuries before the Europeans discovered it in the Middle East), wonderful astronomers (who correctly predicted that our solar system would pass through the center of the Milky Way on December 21, 2012), as well as a practical people. They built great cities aligned with the southern cross, created a calendar more accurate than that of the Europeans five centuries later and authored a written language which we can now read. The Greeks of the New World, they cultivated corn, vanilla, chocolate, squash, beans, chili pepper, manioc and onions. They also grew cotton and wove cloth. They traveled hundreds of miles by long canoe, collected salt and also mined and processed copper into half-moon shaped blades used with a handle. They mined and traded turquoise. They also used natural rubber to create a ball and invented an interesting sport played on stone courts. Rumor has it even they could beat the pumas. Like the Greeks, they were lords over city-states which vied for power, sometimes in confederations. Today, scientists believe that their great cities were abandoned after long droughts that led to starvation and war.
The book is printed with dual columns, color photos and maps. Normally, I buy three different guide books with a credit card, run to a photocopy joint, copy the good stuff, paste it on paper and then ask the clerk to put a binding on it. Once accomplished, I return the book for credit, most naturally. But not this one! Heck this book not only has everything but also fits into your cargo pants’ leg pocket! That’s right–forget the backpack. The book slides right into your pocket. There’s climate data, information about tourist seasons, recommendations for shots. Whew! Baby, it don’t get better than this. Lorenzo sez five stars.
The author is another former volunteer, por supuesto. He’s been guiding folks around these four countries for more than a decade and it shows. He’s also written two other guides: one for Belize and one for Nicaragua. Buy a book written by a maestro.
April 25, 2012
OMG! If you're planning a 2012 trip to any Mayan sites.. this is a MUST READ!
We traveled to Chichen Itza in January 2012.. and I wish.. we would have had this book then! Now, it has me itching to go to Belize and see some of the upcoming festivals and the various ancient Mayan sites. This book is full of superb photographs. It's VERY well written! Has lots of helpful hints for the traveler! Seriously looking at flying into Mexico.. and then.. taking a bus into Belize City. Did NOT realize.. that Belize City is one of the more expensive places to fly into. Again.. the author gives wonderful tips on traveling through the path of the Ancient Mayans.. in a modern world!
If you're interested in the Mayan calendar, the Mayan people and the Mayan archaeological sites.. and, plan on visiting any of them in 2012.. this book condenses all that you will need for traveling and the various celebrations that are planned for 2012!
The maps are fantastic too! When one is at the various sites.. you have to crowd around a guide.. to get a glimpse of the maps... far better to see it in advance.. and know which areas are a MUST see! At Chichen Itza.. we had gone in 2011.. and missed the Solar Observatory.. after reading more.. we realized how much we'd missed.. and had to return in 2012 to see it! Lots more hidden in the jungle.. you just need the information.. to know.. where to look! This book.. gives you that information!!
We traveled to Chichen Itza in January 2012.. and I wish.. we would have had this book then! Now, it has me itching to go to Belize and see some of the upcoming festivals and the various ancient Mayan sites. This book is full of superb photographs. It's VERY well written! Has lots of helpful hints for the traveler! Seriously looking at flying into Mexico.. and then.. taking a bus into Belize City. Did NOT realize.. that Belize City is one of the more expensive places to fly into. Again.. the author gives wonderful tips on traveling through the path of the Ancient Mayans.. in a modern world!
If you're interested in the Mayan calendar, the Mayan people and the Mayan archaeological sites.. and, plan on visiting any of them in 2012.. this book condenses all that you will need for traveling and the various celebrations that are planned for 2012!
The maps are fantastic too! When one is at the various sites.. you have to crowd around a guide.. to get a glimpse of the maps... far better to see it in advance.. and know which areas are a MUST see! At Chichen Itza.. we had gone in 2011.. and missed the Solar Observatory.. after reading more.. we realized how much we'd missed.. and had to return in 2012 to see it! Lots more hidden in the jungle.. you just need the information.. to know.. where to look! This book.. gives you that information!!
October 22, 2011
and now I have to go to Mexico or Belize next year (2012)
July 14, 2012
Very interesting. If you are going to visit this area I would read this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews