Yucatan News: Baktun 14 and Onward!
B’ak’tun 14 Opportunity to Reflect
December 21, 2012, was the last day of the 13th B’ak’tun. It’s date was 13.0.0.0.0. December 22, 2012, was the first day of the 14th B’ak’tun. It’s date was 13.0.0.0.1.
The Maya have no apocalyptic prophesies, despite the hysteria and predictions that focused on this part of the world. Newspapers and other news organizations sure have been getting their money's worth out of this event, like in this article from the LA Times, just one of hundreds. But this is a new era and a new opportunity for reflection about our place and influence on Planet Earth. When B’ak’tun 14 ends, we wonder if our descendants will think well of our stewardship of this world that they inherited. We certainly hope so, and we hope that everyone takes this opportunity to step up and take responsibility for the future of our fellow human beings and of the planet itself.
Doomsday Bunkers For Sale or Rent
Everyone knows someone who stockpiled food in advance of Y-2K. When that event passed like any other day, everyone had a good laugh and went back to their regular lives. This supposed end of the world event was a little more costly. Now, we are hearing of hugely expensive survival bunkers in mountains and jungles throughout the world. Not to worry! With only a mere two or three days having passed since December 21, 2012, we hear that many of the world’s Doomsday bunkers are now for sale or rent to tourists, including those right here in Yucatan!
The Guide to Yucatan Living
The Guide to Yucatan Living is a beautiful, fully-articulated and offset-printed catalog that highlights local resources in the Yucatan, centered around Merida. This is a book you won’t mind leaving out on the coffee table, with our signature photographic images and a few carefully-chosen article excerpts. More and more people are coming to the Yucatan, checking it out as a place to move to or retire to. Younger people with internet-based jobs who can live anywhere in the world, find that living in the Yucatan provides them with a more peaceful and authentic life for them and their children. The Guide to Yucatan Living is for all of them (and you!). This book is bound to be read, collected, saved and enjoyed by both residents and visitors alike. The Guide to Yucatan Living is free and available in several locations in Merida and throughout the state. The Guide to Yucatan Living is also available online in printable PDF form. If you want to have a Guide to Yucatan Living sent to you (the cost is $10.60 USD to have it sent) or you want to advertise in next year’s edition, email us at sales yucatanliving com.
Center for Environmental Education in Yucatan
Yucatan has a new bio/cultural reserve on almost 1,300 acres between Izamal and Tizimin. The Center for Environmental Education in Yucatan (CEAPY) is an interesting project which not only works to reconstruct the physical ecosystems, but the cultural environment as well. This translates to patrolling reserves, maintaining trails, and even restoring early colonial buildings that came with the property. Please visit Amigos del Center for Environmental Education in Yucatan on their Facebook page for more information about this important project.
Win Stone Bathroom Counters
By now, everyone should know about the three day Renovation Workshop to be held at the Merida English Library, January 9 through 11. But this is a new News Flash from MEL, and news we thought worth spreading. Some lucky participant in MEL’s Renovation Workshop will win stone bathroom counters! Every participant (limited to 15) will be entered in a drawing that will take place on Friday, January 11, 2013, at the workshop. Couples taking the workshop will have double the chance to win! Magra, a local Yucatecan fabricator of granite and stone, has graciously offered to provide the stone, fabrication and installation of granite (or other stone) bathroom counters to some lucky participant in MEL’s Renovation Workshop. The winner can choose their own stone and Magra will fabricate the counters and install them whenever the winner is ready!
Cozumel Neighborhood Watch Group Organized
From our friend Laura Wilkinson, at Cozumel 4 You, we learn that a new Cozumel Neighborhood Watch group was recently organized. To keep up with what they are doing, as well as make new friends and compare notes, they can be reached on their FaceBook page at Cozumel Neighborhood Watch Group.
Domino’s Pizza Contest Won by Yucateco
When we first saw this story, we thought it must be about a marvelous pizza chef in Merida, but not so! This contest was quite complex. The winner had to not only have the greatest number of online pizza orders, but also had to develop a jingle and a promotional video for Domino’s “The Greatest Quedados” marketing campaign. Merida’s Julio Armando Moreno Parra took the national prize! Our congratulations to this young comunicador. No matter his final choice in the field of communications, this is a great beginning to his marketing career!
Ticul: Citizens Fight Noise Pollution
Not too many years ago, the southern part of the State of Yucatan was what people were referring to when they said things like “the dark and mysterious jungles of Yucatan.” Of course, those of us who live here see that area quite differently. It is certainly not dark and mysterious. It is colorful and has a wealth of marvelous customs and legends! We first began to notice change coming to Yucatan Sur with the growth of cell phone numbers, and Internet accounts on MySpace and Facebook. All of a sudden, the Orange Festival and the various shoe and pottery makers were garnering worldwide fame. Today, several clothing stores have the volume of music and advertisements too loud and the population is livid because the clothing stores ignored their official warning concerning noise pollution... it remains to be seen what happens next. When you visit Yucatan, please make a special effort to get to the south of the state. It may not be your grandfather’s “dark and mysterious jungle,” but it is bringing the best of the old into the future with its evolution and you are invited to visit or even live there!
Still No Santa for Some Yucateco Children
Little by little, the Santa Claus programs, initially begun by expats, have come to mean that there will be a Merry Christmas in most of the beach towns for the local children who live there. Such is still not the case in many areas of the state, most notably in Tizimin. As our expat community grows, and as expats search for meaningful ways to give back to the communities that have been so welcoming to us all, please consider getting in touch with the local schools, churches and DIF’s in other areas of the state to see if expat groups might be able to do something to help there too. Santa should be more than a dead illusion to children whose only crime was to be born out of sight and out of mind of most of the world. Please donate to the Santa programs we already have and consider starting one in places where there are none. By next year, who knows, Mr. and Mrs. Claus may just be Snowbirds with a second home in Yucatan!
