Celebrating Soltice in Tulum

It dawned (no pun intended) on me yesterday that we were at Tulum, the Mayan ruins in Mexico exactly one week before Solstice! I wonder what it was like there December 21st and 22nd!

The buildings have windows that are calibrated with the sun’s position on the Solstices and Equinoxes. For an ancient civilization with no tools or technology they seemed to know a great deal about architecture, mathematics, and keeping time.

I am glad we went on the excursion to Tulum and I would recommend it to anyone! The lecture given on the bus by the tour guide, was fascinating, well delivered and covered an encyclopedic amount of information. The guide who walked us through the site was also well versed and knowledgeable. The ruins are now roped off, protected. Tourists can’t walk through them anymore.

Rather than being disappointed by that I was actually relieved to hear it. It seems fitting that they should be protected from the graffiti and excessive wear and tear that comes along with hordes of tourists. The ruins are sacred ground and should be honored as such.

One thing that always amazes me is the fact that similar architecture exists in several places on earth. Places that are not close to each other… and there was no mass transit or Internet to spread ideas back then. Whether it is Stonehenge, Easter Island, Mayan Ruins, or Egyptian Pyramids the architecture is to be marveled at and protected. A sacred geometry is involved much like the sacred geometry employed in the Chartres Labyrinth.

Our tour guide also addressed the end of the long count of the Mayan Calendar: 12/23/12. His feeling was that it will not necessarily be the end of the world, just the end of yet another 52 year period; but that there will be great upheavals in the earth: Tidal waves, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions.

After hearing his lecture I am sold on the fact that the Mayan calendar is more accurate than the Gregorian (or other) calendars. I think I shall spend some time in the near future studying this amazing calendar… I’ll have to put it on my immediate “to do” list because time is short… 2012 is right around the corner and I would like to know what to expect and how to handle it. One thing I have heard is that 12/23/12 would be a good time to be on the ocean, so I am curious to see if some enterprising cruise tour operator hops on that band wagon. 

My recommendation is go to Tulum now...enjoy the sightseeing and history lesson.  Then we can all book a cruise to Cozmuel just before Dec. 23,2012 to see Tulum again and be safely out to sea when the earthquakes come.