From Rio de Janeiro
Jonathan Watts, Latin America Correspondent, writes:
For the business minded, every crisis is an opportunity. And so it is proving to be for the Mayan nations of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras which are aiming to cash in on the end of world hype.Between them, these four countries expect almost a million extra visitors this week thanks to a series of special programmes to mark the end of a 5,125-year cycle of the Mayan calendar on Friday.The events - including rituals, concerts, conferences and fireworks - will take place at 39 ancient sites, including the pyramids of Chichen Itza in Mexico , Copan in Honduras, Tikal in Guatemala and La Joya de Ceren in El Salvador. State presidents will attend some of these festivities. At others, the start of the 13th baktun - or new era - will be marked by night surfing competitions and pyramid building.Archaeologists and indigenous groups have complained that this momentous moment is being misinterpreted, trivilialised and commercialised.“Baktun’s not the end of the world, but a cycle,” Carlos Barrios, a Guatemalan Mayan priest, told the El Tiempo newspaper. “It is an energy shift. We’ll get into a new consciousness that is in closer harmony with Mother Earth. ““We resent those who say it’s the end of the world, because no Mayan ever said so. Others have mixed the sacred Mayan calendar with the Chinese calendar,” said Barrios, who lamented the rise of an end-of-the-world industry, selling everything from tin cans and water purifiers to bunkers and mountaintop properties.The director of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism, Pedro Duches, predicts that between 150,000 and 200,000 tourists will visit his country - one of the centres of Mayan culture - to mark the start of the new era. The visitors may find themselves hoping to be abducted by aliens because Duches also acknowledged that it has been difficult to find hotel beds at the sites of the main festivities.
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