The ancient Maya viewed time as cyclical, and on December 21, 2012, the Maya Long Count calendar will reset itself to zero like a cosmic odometer, thus completing a cycle of 5,125 years. This portentous date may or may not herald a new age of enlightenment for mankind or signal the end of the world as various self-proclaimed prophets and doomsayers predict. But one thing is certain: there are going to be celebrations of all things Maya held throughout 2012 in the region known as the Mundo Maya.
To help travelers plan for these diverse events, Avalon Travel has justreleasedMOON MAYA 2012: A Guide to Celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize & Honduras. The guide's author Joshua Berman manages to pack an impressive amount of information into this slim volume's 115 pages. There are chapters devoted to all four countries comprising the Mundo Maya. Included are descriptions of Maya archaeological sites, maps and directions, plus sections on 2012 tours, community tourism, and hotel packages. Each of these chapters begins with a first-person narrative -- something seldom found in today's guidebooks -- based on Joshua Berman's extensive travels in the region.
Sprinkled throughout the guide are interviews with archaeologists, authors, and other experts on the Maya. A concluding chapter supplies background on history and the Maya Long Count, as well as lists of relevant books, websites and films. There are even glossaries of words and common expressions in Yucatec and Tzotzil, two of the most widely spoken Maya languages. In short, this innovative and useful guide belongs in the backpack of anyone heading off to experience the Mundo Maya in 2012.
On December 21, 2012, the remarkable timekeeping machine that is the Maya Long Count calendar will reset itself to zero, thus marking the end of the current era that began in 3114 BC and heralding the start of a new creation cycle. This auspicious event will no doubt spark interest in all things Maya next year. It should also bring a lot of travelers to the Mundo Maya (Maya World), which encompasses the Mexican state of Chiapas, the Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.
There are so many rewarding places to visit in the Mundo Maya that it's difficult to know where to begin. However, here is a list of ten destinations that I can definitely recommend seeing before the dawning of the new age (or the end of the world as some doomsayers predict).
Please click on the photos to view captions and larger versions.
Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
Sequestered in the jungle of southern Mexico, Palenque is considered by many to be the most beautiful of the ancient Maya cities.
Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico
Chichén Itzá, the grandest archaeological site on the Yucatán Peninsula, has been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
The handsome Spanish colonial city of Mérida, capital of the state of Yucatán, remains one of the most intriguing and culturally rich cities in the Mundo Maya.
The grandeur of Tikal's towering temples is unmatched in the Mundo Maya.
Chichicastenango, Guatemala
The misty mountain town of Chichicastenango is home to the largest indigenous market in the Mundo Maya.
Antigua, Guatemala
With its backdrop of towering volcanoes and handsome Spanish colonial architecture, Antigua is arguably the most alluring town in the Mundo Maya.
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
Mesmerizing Lago de Atitlán is said to be the deepest lake in Central America. British writer Aldous Huxley called Atitlán "the most beautiful lake in the world."
Copán, Honduras
The ancient Maya city of Copán in Western Honduras has been dubbed the "Athens of the New World" because of its magnificent sculptures.
Lamanai, Belize
A boat trip up the New River in Northern Belize to the isolated Maya ruins of Lamanai is a true jungle adventure.
The ancient Maya city of Copan has been called the "Athens of the New World," mainly because of the remarkable stone sculptures that define these famous ruins in western Honduras. In order to preserve Copan's artistic treasures from the ravages of time, many sculptures have been replaced with on-site replicas and the originals moved to the spacious Copan Sculpture Museum next to the archaeological zone.
Visitors enter the partially buried museum through the toothy jaws of a Maya Earth monster and then proceed along a twisting tunnel that represents the path to the Maya underworld. Once inside the museum's vast atrium, they are confronted by a full-scale replica of Rosalila (Rose-Lilac), an impressive 1400-year-old temple that was discovered in 1989 beneath one of Copan's main structures.
Natural light from a huge opening in the museum's roof washes over Rosalila, bringing to life colorful stucco friezes depicting sacred ears of corn, birds, and two-headed monsters. Surrounding the two-story temple are hundreds of the finest stone carvings in the Maya world. They have been arranged to mirror Maya cosmology, which divided the universe into three levels: the underworld, the surface world, and the heavens.
Underworld denizens such as giant killer bats and wide-eyed demons populate the museum's lower floor, while heavenly beings and likenesses of Copan's nobles decked out in finery can be found on the upper level. Sections of intricately carved building facades are also on display, and the main gallery's ceiling has been decorated with Maya astronomical glyphs representing stars and planets.
Below is a slide-show of photos that I have taken on three visits (1996, 2006, and 2010) to the Copan Sculpture Museum. Move the cursor over the screen to read captions. Click on the images to see larger views and for information about ordering prints or leasing photos for personal or editorial use.
The winding road from Santa Rosa de Copán to Gracias in Western Honduras dips and climbs like a roller coaster through a wild landscape of deep valleys, pine-clad mountains and rocky streams. It's no wonder that when Spanish conquistadors exploring this region during the early 1500's finally happened upon a stretch of flat land, they named the community that they founded there "Gracias a Dios" (Thank God).
Now known simply as Gracias, this sleepy town may not look very important today, but at one time it was the Spanish capital of all Central America. In 1544, Gracias was chosen to be the home of the Spanish Empire’s governing council, the Audiencia de los Confines. Gracias served as an administrative center until 1548, when the Audencia packed up and moved to Antigua, Guatemala.
Not surprisingly, given its isolated location, Gracias fell into a long period of anonymity. Recently, however, Gracias' quiet charms have been rediscovered by adventurous travelers, and the town is being put back on the map as a budding tourist destination and convenient base for exploring nearby Lenca Indian villages and Celaque National Park.
Gracias' compact historical center fans out from a tree-shaded main square with a tiny central bandstand that has been converted into a pleasant two-storey cafe. Restored colonial buildings line the town's narrow streets, and there are several old churches worth seeking out. The most attractive is the 17th century Iglesia La Merced, which has an ornate baroque-style facade with spiral columns and niches containing religious statues. Next to the white and yellow Iglesia San Marcos on the main square stands the building that was once home to the Spanish Audencia. A pair of sculpted lions with gruff, human-like faces keep watch over its wide stone entrance. Across the street is the Casa Galeano, a remodeled colonial mansion that now houses a very good regional museum and a small botanical garden.
Perched above Gracias is the Fuerte de San Cristóbal, a renovated Spanish fort that provides some inspiring views of the surrounding mountains. Also popular with both locals and visitors are two sets of natural thermal pools on the outskirts of town. The more upscale of these hot springs facilities is the Termas del Rio, which is operated by the Posada de Don Juan, a comfortable new hotel that has opened in downtown Gracias.
Gracias is also gateway to what has become known as La Ruta Lenca or Lenca Route, a series of picturesque villages inhabited by Lenca Indians, the largest indigenous group in Honduras. The Lenca are best known for their distinctive earthenware pottery that is sold in markets throughout the country.
The Lenca village easiest to reach from Gracias is La Campa located about 16 kilometers (10 miles) away on a paved road. At the entrance to La Campa sits an interpretation center named La Escuelona. This rambling colonial-era complex has galleries with Lenca pottery and historical exhibits as well as showrooms where visitors can buy locally made plates, chimes, whistles and other ceramic creations. Several other pottery stores and workshops lie scattered around town, including the well-stocked home of Doña Desideria Pérez, which has a traditional wood-fired Lenca pottery oven in the backyard.
Uunpaved streets lead downhill past humble dwellings with tile roofs to La Campa's main claim to fame, the Iglesia de San Matías. This three-hundred-year-old church was restored in 1938. However, its brightly colored facade decorated with floral motifs and fluttering angels looks as if it has just been given a fresh coat of paint in hopes that more travelers will soon be coming to admire it.
Move the cursor over the screen of the slide-show below to read captions. Click on individual images to see larger versions and for information about ordering prints or leasing photos for personal or commercial and editorial use.
On a recent trip to Central America, I had the opportunity to visit the Lancetilla Botanical Garden on the verdant Caribbean coast of Honduras. This 1680-hectare (4151-acre) green space and research center harbors over 1200 plant species and is said to be the second largest tropical botanical garden in the world.
Lancetilla, which gets its name from a palm tree native to Honduras, was established in 1926 by American botanist Doctor William Popenoe and his wife Dorothy. An employee of the United Fruit Company, William Popenoe set out to create experimental plantations for the study of economically important fruits and other plants. His garden has grown from modest beginnings to include species from tropical regions around the globe.
At the heart of Lancetilla lies the Biotic Reserve with 1281 hectares of protected Honduran primary and secondary humid forest. There are also 322 hectares of experimental plantations, plus the Wilson Popenoe Arboretum, which conserves tropical species from four continents. In addition, Lancetilla is home to many species of animals, including troops of endangered howler, spider, and white-faced capuchin monkeys. Some 250 species of birds have been spotted in the garden.
Our Honduran guide Salvador led our small group through the park-like Arboretum, the garden's most-visited area. On either side of meandering natural stone paths grew plants of all kinds, each identified with a sign giving both its scientific and Spanish names.
Along the way, Salvador pointed out medicinal, ornamental, and even poisonous species such as strychnine. We stopped to examine the infamous coca plant from which cocaine is made, plus we admired several national trees of Central American countries, including a giant Guanacaste tree from Costa Rica and the Honduras Pine. Salvador made sure to show us an ackee tree, the fruit of which is poisonous if improperly prepared. This tree is infamous at Lancetilla because Dorothy Popenoe, whose grave is in the garden, died in 1932 after eating an unripe ackee fruit.
Lancetilla Garden has a Visitors Center housing plant-related exhibits (signage in Spanish only) and a cafeteria. The center sells a trail map of the garden for 10 Lempiras (about US$0.50). Admission to the garden is 115 Lempiras (about US$6.00) and opening hours are 7am to 4pm daily. Guide services are available as well as birding tours. Air-conditioned cabins can be rented for overnight stays. Bring mosquito repellent, bottled water, and protection from the sun. Lancetilla Botanical Garden and Research Center is located about 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) southwest of the beach resort town of Tela.
Move the cursor over the screen of the slide-show below to read captions. Click on individual images to see larger versions and for information about ordering prints or leasing photos for personal, editorial, or commercial use.
On my recent trip to Honduras, I was fortunate enough to stay at the The Lodge at Pico Bonito located in the buffer zone of the Parque Nacional Pico Bonito, the largest National Park in Honduras. This luxurious ecolodge opened in 2000 and is now considered to be one of the finest in the world. The lodge’s mission is not only to give its guests a comfortable base for exploring Pico Bonito but also to protect the region’s flora and fauna. Presided over by 8000-foot-high Pico Bonito, the park covers over 264,000 acres of unspoiled tropical jungle and cloud forest that is home to more than 325 species of birds as well as peccaries, tapirs, jaguars, and many other rare and threatened animals.
Highlight of my stay was an early morning bird walk, where we spotted an assortment of exotic birds, including parrots and toucans, followed by a tour of the lodge’s extensive grounds with a local guide. Trails winding through orange and cacao groves took us to a butterfly farm where butterflies are bred and then exported to collectors around the globe. We then spent time in the adjacent Butterfly House, a spacious netted enclosure filled with fluttering butterflies. Next stop was the Serpentarium, which houses a variety snakes – both harmless and venomous – found in Honduras. We also visited an organic vegetable garden that supplies fresh produce for the lodge’s gourmet restaurant. Our excursion ended with a blissful swim in a crystal-clear mountain stream only a short hike away.
For more information about The Lodge at Pico Bonito, call toll free 1-888-428-0221 or visit their Website.
One of the most inspiring places that I visited during my recent trip to Honduras was the Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve located on the outskirts of Copan Ruinas, not far from the famous Maya ruins of Copan. This forested reserve is home to 110 exotic Honduran birds, including macaws, parrots, and toucans that have been rescued from captivity. A true labour of love, the bird park was created by American biologist and businessman Lloyd Davidson. He operated a bird park on the island of Roatan for over four years before purchasing a ten-acre patch of old growth forest near Copan Ruinas. After two and a half years of planning and building, Davidson and his business partner chartered a plane and moved the birds to their new home in 2003.
In addition to large flight aviaries with ample space for the colourful birds to fly around in, the park has nature trails, elevated platforms for viewing wild birds, and open encounter areas where visitors can interact with uncaged macaws and parrots. The park’s gift shop carries souvenirs and packages of “bird friendly” coffee from Finca Miramundo, a highland coffee farm partly owned by Davidson. Proceeds from the shop go towards the reserve’s upkeep.
The Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve is located about 2.5 km north of Copan Ruinas, a short taxi ride from the main square. The bird park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is US$10, which includes a tour with an English-speaking guide. The entrance ticket is good for three days.
2011 UPDATE
Lloyd Davidson, the owner of the Macaw Mountain Bird Park, told me on a visit in October 2010 that he now has between 160-170 birds and is no longer emphasizing breeding. Rather he is organizing moves to release more endangered Scarlet Macaws (the national bird of Honduras) into the Copan Valley. He will also be working with the World Parrot Trust on a ten-year plan to repopulate the wild with Scarlet Macaws, whose populations are seriously low due mainly to habitat destruction and illegal poaching of chicks for the tropical bird pet trade.
