A Great Flood and a Rainbow

One reason I left on this trip before I was ready was to get to Palenque in time for the end of the world. There is a Mayan prophecy about the end of an era of Babylon, the broken world, and the transformation to a new world where people live consciously. I made it to the Rainbow Gathering near Palenque a few days before the 21st.

The 21st of December 2012 was to be the end of the world. In the morning there was going to be a ceremony at the Palenque ruins. Before that, a global meditation at 0411, I think it was. That is not a time when I would find it easy to get up. Someone suggested going to sleep at the main circle so I might wake up, so I went out there with my bivvy bag.

I lay down to sleep, and it started to rain. I was not concerned about this, because I had previously tested this bivvy bag up a hill in Scotland when it rained all night and I remained dry, so I tried to go to sleep.

The rain started to become very heavy. I could feel the lumps of water whacking into me. I started to get wet. I don’t think it was coming in the opening - probably it was so hard it was forced through the material. I stayed for a while anyway hoping it would stop, but after maybe half an hour it was still raining heavily.

The drummers had left and the previously strong fire had been extinguished by the rain. I was now on my own in the dark, getting cold in the heaviest rain I had every seen, which showed no sign of stopping. I started to wonder if this was the end. If you want to clean the world ready for a new one rain might be a good way to do it. It would not be the first time there had been a Great Flood for something like this.

I decided to get up before I became hypothermic. I made it back to my camp on the paths which were now mud rivers. My tent was still there, but full of water. I slept in my damp sleeping bag and missed the morning ceremonies.

The world seemed the same in the morning, but then I realised that actually anything could have happened. Maybe the rest outside the Rainbow had gone. I would have to check it out later.