There are a few places in the Yucatán that we try to revisit each year, as they are dear to our hearts… like San Ignacio Cenote of the previous blog post.
This is another! Hacienda Yaxcopoil!
Our friends, Raymond and Pam, also count Hacienda Yaxcopoil as one of their favourite places to visit! We were able to grab a day and go together!
Courtesy of Yaxcopoil website…
Hacienda Yaxcopoil (YASH-coh-poh-EEL) is a Yucatan plantation located near Merida, Mexico and dating back to the 17th century. The name Yaxcopoil means “the place of the green alamo trees” in Mayan and was named after the Mayan ruins nearby. The Hacienda represents the history of three great periods in the Yucatan Peninsula: the pre-Columbian period, the Spanish colonial period, and the boom years of henequen cultivation during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Hacienda Yaxcopoil was once considered one of the most important rural estates in the Yucatan due to its size and magnificence. It covered about 22,000 acres of land at the time of its greatest splendor, operating first as a cattle ranch and later as a henequen plantation. Over time, due to continuous political, social and economic changes, the estate has been reduced to less than 3% of its original size.
It’s located south-west of Mérida… about an 1 hour and 15 minute drove from Uaymitun… all on good highways!
Here’s some highlights of our visit!
The interior is being maintained as it was, however, there’s a project underway to restore the beauty of the walls.
As we were touring the rooms, Raymond and I found scaffolding and a craftsman working in the kitchen. We expressed interest in what he was doing and he came down to tell us of his work.
While the walls of each of the rooms in the Principal residence appear to be covered by wallpaper, in fact, the designs are all hand painted! The beauty of each room is being recreated by hand to match the remaining remnants of designs found fading on the walls. Given the painstaking work involved, each room takes 5-7 months to complete!
Reference to this work and the craftsman performing it, Alejandro Quintal Solis, can be found in an online edition of El Diario de Yucatán. The original is in Spanish but most browsers can provide inline translation to English, if you wish!
As beautiful as the interior is, the grounds are equally impressive and enjoyable on many levels!
Elaine was wandering and had a conversation with another workman who took her to see some of the Mayan era discoveries from the site!
It’s a wonderful place to just amble along enjoying the quietness and beauty!
No visit is complete without a stroll across the open grounds to the henequen processing factory and buildings
We had enjoyed another wonderful visit to Hacienda Yaxcopoil!
We stopped at another of our fav’s, Hermana Republica Xcanatun, for lunch on our way home!
I hope you’ve enjoyed a glimpse of Hacienda Yaxcopoil!
Cheers from Uaymitun!
-doug and elaine
Since my original draft of this blog post, I’m sad to say my Mom passed away on Monday, April 1st. She would have been 105 in October!
A picture is often said to be worth 1,000 words…
