Uaymitun 2013-Blog Post #19 “Hacienda Yaxcopoil”

I’m back… only a couple more blogs to wrap up our stay in Uaymitun!

On the day we had lunch at Hacienda Xcanatun, Elaine and I and Terri and Mat spent the afternoon at Hacienda Yaxcopoil.

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.

It’s located about a 1/2 hour drive south of Merida, so it was an easy drive on a new 4 lane divided highway heading to Campeche. In the small village of Yaxcopil, you’ll find the distinctive ‘moorish’ double arched gateway.

View of the gates from the park across the way

A closer look of the gates from the exterior

Within the perimeter walls, the grandeur of this place quickly becomes evident. It’s different from many of the other haciendas in the area as it hasn’t been restored or modernized. It feels as if it’s jumped 150 years as the rooms have been left as they would have looked back then.

The front courtyard and visitors parking

While a bit faded now, you can see the detailed work even on the walls

I loved this tree in the middle of the paddock area

Once you’ve entered through the main door and purchased your tickets, you can glimpse the inner courtyard through the doorway. Glancing and right then left you can see through the entire main house.

All the rooms had period furniture and many artifacts from the 1800’s arrayed on the walls.

The comfortable style of the home easily shifts from interior to exterior with areas of sun and areas of shade.

… shows the efforts spent on design throughout the hacienda.

The westerly view out to part of the village

In its hey-day, the paddock area would have been full of horses and cattle.

Note how the horses have ‘trimmed’ all of the hanging vines!

A quick jump back into the main house…

… where you can literally see from one end of the house to the other.

Across the patio from the main house are a series of work rooms…

… where Mat and Terri had a seat on a Mayan bench.

As we toured the grounds, one could see the effort put into making this not just a working henequen plantation but someone’s home!

A view of the main house from one of the garden areas.

First glimpses of the plantation machine house.

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.