The Oreo Was Right

As with every other Doomsday or end of the world scenario we have got to enjoy over the past 20 years, the end of the Mayan calendar presented us with another opportunity for overhype, scaremongering, testimonials and ridicule. I guess there are enough people around that believe this type of thing that there was a need for a number of scientific papers to dispute the pending shift in the earth axis and resulting calamities. One of the best representations circulating the Internet, hilarious in my opinion, of how different people feel in is the photo below.

While solidly in the Oreo cookie camp, I was spending the 21 Dec right in the heart of the Mayan empire, and couldn't help but be interested in the whole deal. Belize, as with most other Central American countries, has ancient Mayan ruins sites scattered across it's lands, including a small one right on Ambergris Caye just south of San Pedro. Surprisingly, for being right at Ground Zero, there was little interest in the history and so called prophecies of the Mayan calendar. Although there was a formal celebration at the ruins in Caracol, not much was happening in San Pedro other than bands in Times Square and " end of the world parties" at various bars around town.

I had been invited to the celebration in Caracol, and though it was for good reasons, there are some regrets that I did not end up going. Tickets to the celebration were $170, and included park enrance,  three nights in a tent, food and celebrations. Not a bad deal all round, but my flight arrangements back home would have required me to leave first thing in the morning of the 21st; missing the main ceremonies and having to take a $100 cab  back to Belize City ahead of the rest of the group. So a decision was made to stay, and attend the $2,100 chicken drop night at Wahoos bar. In the end, the end of the night not the world that is, it was a quiet evening all round and I ended up in bed early, to get up before dawn to pack and watch what could have been the worlds last sunrise.

But alas, the Oreo cookie was right. The sun rose at 6:14 without incident, and continued to do so past the 11:11 trigger time, and it was back to the real world in the frozen north. Hmmm....