Oh Me, Oh Maya

The latest Drop Me Anywhere vote is now closed and you, my Virtual Travel Buddies, have told me where to go (better you, than the guy I accidentally cut-off in traffic). This month’s vote, Ancient Civilizations, was inspired by the preparation to sell my house and all the “stuff” in it. It seems many ancients moved out of their houses and just left their stuff – tools, jewelry, pottery, what have you. Silly me, I’ve already had a garage sale (I guess they didn’t actually have garages), brought stuff to the consignment store, listed things on Craigs List and donated to charity (surely the Incas could have used some of the Mayans old tools). Anyway, we’re able to learn much from their leftover stuff so I thought I’d go see it.

This time, you deviated from your normal, unpredictable behavior and actually picked one of the choices offered, as opposed to the write-in candidate option of “other.” While less of you voted on this one, there were record numbers of readers on the site (remember, this is a team effort, so please be sure to participate by voting and sharing when I post the next vote). And while I’ve never encouraged people giving me suggestions on things to do and see via the site or social media as it’s important to me to keep the integrity of the project’s commitment to “without a plan,” I’ve decided to be more open about that as, even if you tell me, I can store it in the back of my head just in case, but not actually plan. So please feel free to throw your favorites out there and, if I’m in the area and have the time, I may give it a try.

Now, if you haven’t guessed it yet, the winners of this month’s vote are the Mayans! The Maya civilization developed somewhere around 2000 BC and went into decline somewhere around 1000 AD, give or take a couple of hundred years. The Maya civilization extended throughout the present-day southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as the Yucatan Peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán. The Maya area also extended throughout the northern Central American region, including the present-day nations of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras and extreme northern El Salvador.

During the next few days I’ll book a flight to one of these locations so I can go visit the mythical Mayans within two weeks or so. I will do little planning other than that. Once I arrive, I’ll learn more about the Mayans as well as the present day locals (if you’re one of my regular Virtual Travel Buddies, you’ll know that I tend to write a lot about the people I meet while traveling). I’ll share my new-found Maya knowledge with you as well as some photos, information on local sites, accommodations, activities, restaurants and more. As always, I hope to write compelling and humorous stories which give you a feel of traveling with me. I’ll also find a project or organization with which to volunteer so I can do some good, and I’ll let you know more about what they do, who they serve, and how you can get involved on www.Rebel-With-A-Cause.org.

If you click the “Follow Here” link on any of the story or voting pages you’ll become a Virtual Travel Buddy and will receive an E-mail when a new post is up. I, nor any of my friends (Mayan or otherwise), will ever contact you for anything else. You can also follow along at the Drop Me Anywhere Facebook Page (you like me, you really like me!) as well as Twitter (@DropMeAnywhere), Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr.

Oh, and I’ll be putting my house on the market immediately following this trip so contact me if you’re interested. If you’d like, I can even include my furniture and my car to make it easy. In short, you can buy my life. If not, I may just have to be like the Mayans and simply leave. Who knows, in a millennium or two, people may pay good money just to visit my bedroom (wait, that’s just wrong). Buy my house (you can even have my dead plant)!

**Note – if you’re interested, I was the 41^st travel expert profiled on McCool Travel. Just click the link to read it!