Cancun Caters to “End of the World” Celebrations for the Sophisticated Traveler

Cancun is in its "end of the world" countdown, according to the Mayan calendar. The tourist board and hotels are luring tourists in with attractions and amenities for the more sophisticated traveler.

If the world was going to end, you'd want to spend the last days in style, right? That's how Maryanne and Paul Carpenter would do it -- in style and eating amazing food --lots of it.

“We ate three servings of ceviche, then fish tacos, then beef cheeks, pork belly and a few things we’ve never even heard of,” said Maryanne, 35, who admitted to resorting to having to unbutton her pants from their feast of plenty. “We’re eating like it’s the end of the world.”

The Carpenters were indulging in this weekend’s Cancun-Riviera Maya Wine & Food Festival, but there was something more that brought them to Cancun from Indiana.

They planned their trip south of the border this year because Maryanne was intrigued about the Mayan "end of the world" prophecies that predict 2012 will be our last one on the earth.  According to the Mesoamerican calendar, Dec. 21 is the date in Mayan mythology that marks the end of a 5,125 year-long cycle.

Based on astrological calculations, some believe it to be a period of spiritual renewal, but more outlandish scenarios involve the Earth’s collision with another planet or being swallowed by a black hole.

The apocalyptic prophecies may be just myth, but still the entire Yucatan peninsula has been prepping for 2012 for the past few years.  Cancun and the surrounding areas like the Riviera Maya and Tulum are seeing a boost in tourism in 2012 due to curiosity about the Mayan’s doomsday scenario.

More than a few Mexicans with Mayan ancestry who still inhabit the area told me they don’t think the world will literally end on Dec. 21, but they do believe 2012 is a significant time for rebirth.

Nowhere is that more true than in Cancun where officials and the tourism board have been working hard to reinvent themselves from hard partying spring breaker destination filled with foam parties and topless bungee jumping to a more adult playground and destination for foodies.

“As we close out the traditional Mayan calendar and welcome a new era. Cancun is embracing a ‘new beginning,’ which invites locals and guests to think different and behave different by exploring the evolution of humanity, and redefining our experience in the land of the Mayans,” Erika Mitzunaga of the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau told me.

The wine and food festival, the first for Cancun, was just one way of welcoming this new era of more sophisticated tourism. More than 30 star chefs, including the highly celebrated molecular gastronomist Ferran Adria of El Bulli, Ingrid Hoffman of “Simply Delicioso” and Jacques Pepin of “Essential Pepin,” prepared their edible artistry for crowds in the thousands.

But even before the festival convened in Cancun, the city was already starting to see an influx of different kinds of clientele arriving since the first of this year.

Over the coming weeks Cancun’s visitor’s bureau will put the finishing touches on their end of the world celebration plans for the city—many of them including good food, good wine and good company.

A modern-day pyramid is already under construction in the town of Zama (close to the ruins of Tulum) in honor of the ancient Mayans. Visitors to the region are invited to place a dream, wish, or message on a piece of paper and then place it inside a recyclable plastic water bottle. These water bottles will be the building blocks of the pyramid.

In May, the eco-archaeological park Xcaret is giving visitors the opportunity to practice the ancient yearly pilgrimage to Cozumel in honor of the Mayan goddess Ixchtel. The trip embarks at sunrise on May 21 at Bahía Dos Playas in Xcaret park. All visitors who arrive to the gates of the park before 5:30 am receive free admission to Xcaret.