What I've Learned

Welcome to 2012. If you are considering a vacation this year, you should go to Mexico. The town of Chiapas is installing an eight-foot digital clock that will count down to December 21.

Why?

Southern Mexico was home to the ancient Maya, whose civilization reached its height from A.D. 300 to 900. Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking off time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was an important number to the Maya, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec 21, 2012. Hence, it is now a widespread belief (not in my household) that the world will end on that date.

What better vacation photo could you have than standing next to the clock, waving goodbye. (I would stand there holding a 2013 calendar, but that's just me.)

If posing next to a clock doesn't strike your fancy, don't give up. Each year, Mexico attracts around 22 million visitors. For 2012, Mexico's Tourism Board hopes to jack that up to 52 million by providing hundreds of Mayan-themed events. The effort is called Mundo Maya 2012 (Mayan World 2012).

Want to go to a village and see Mayan priests burn incense, chant, and perform ancient rituals? You can.

There will be dance festivals and concerts and theatrical productions and tons of traditional Mayan food and tours of archaeological sites.

It occurs to me that Maine – specifically, Mexico, Maine – is missing an opportunity. I am much more likely to travel to the town of Mexico than to the country next year. Why shouldn't the town cash in on the Maya craze?

The settlement was originally called Holmanstown, after Colonel Jonathan Holman, who had owned much of the land. When early residents wanted to organize into a town, they chose, instead of Holmanstown, the name Mexico. They had great sympathy for that country's effort to win its independence from Spain, and chose the name in remembrance of the Mexicans who, from 1810 to 1815, had fought and eventually won the victory. The year of the town's organization, after all, was 1818, and the United State's own war of independence was still a living memory.

So Mexico, Maine, having shown support for Mexico in the early 1800s, should now, in 2012, reap some of the tourism benefits. At the very least there could be a countdown clock. And this winter, a Mayan temple made of snow.

Replicas of Mayan trinkets, each stamped Product of Mexico Maine, should be in every shop.

And I would gladly buy a 2012 calendar with scenic photos of the town, provided each photo had a subtle Mayan reference and the calendar ended on December 21.