San Ignacio and Farewell!

Time for the last blog post of our stay in Uaymitun!

Our last excursion was to the cenote of San Ignacio in Chochola, south-west of Merida, with Mat and Terri.

Even though we had been before, four years ago, we were thankful that it's well signed now as it feels like you drive into the small town, head down a minor street and turn into someone's driveway to get there!

The main entrance to San Ignacio

While I did take some pictures down in the underground cenote, I didn't have the kind of lighting for my camera to take great pictures... so I borrowed a couple from their website!

The clarity of the water...

... and its 10m (30 feet) depth make the view spectacular!

I did manage to get a few photos that I've been able to brighten up a bit...

The water temperature was ~82F (28C) so we all just jumped in as it was 104F (40C) outside

Mat and Terri sitting on a limestone bench

It was a Mexican holiday, so there were many more visitors than we expected!

Happy Cenoter's!

As I mentioned earlier, this cenote was underground but accessible via some fairly steep stairs.

Doug's on his way back up to the surface...

... with Terri on her way!

There were quite a few small palapas above ground... with netting (for bugs which we didn't need) and fans (which we did!).

We claimed one of the palapas for ourselves and turned on the fans...

... and ordered some beverages and snacks for lunch.

Back home that evening...

... we were treated to ...

... to a spectacular sunset!

Our last morning at Casa Uaymarima!

Beautiful sunrise!

Tearful goodbyes to our valedor, Panchita...

... and her son Luis!

After saying our goodbyes, we returned to the Merida airport and dropped off our car.  Blueway rentals were very nice as they actually drove us downtown back to the Luz en Yucatan for our overnight.  Unfortunately for the young man driving us, once we had been dropped off, the car stalled and wouldn't start for 15 minutes or so... lots of honking in the street!!!

Our El Mozo room was ready, so we dropped our bags and walked down the street for lunch at the Chaya Maya!

After lunch, it was so blistering hot, we spent most of the afternoon at the pool.

We had one last stroll down to the Plaza Grande and had dinner at Amaro!

3:00 AM came very quickly... cab ride to airport (yawn, yawn)... 6:00 AM flight into Houston... 4 hour layover... and into Detroit around 5:00 PM.

Don and Michelle met us at the airport... I finally changed out of my shorts and flip-flops as it was pretty nippy!

We were back in Sarnia around 7:30 PM and were met by our daughter Tricia who had been house sitting for us.

My hope is that you've enjoyed viewing these blogs 1/2 as much as I've enjoyed creating them!  

My goal was to impart a feeling for what one can experience or explore in this part of Mexico.  

It's not Cancun, its cuisine isn't Tex-Mex and its people are not members of drug cartels! It's the Yucatan!

It wasn't a vacation... we lived in Uaymitun for 2 wonderful months and became part of the fabric of the community.

Farewell from Uaymitun! 

Proximo Ano!

Love to all,

-doug and elaine
-mom and dad
-nana and papa

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

The stone comes alive in the sunshine!

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

The main house

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.

View to the inner courtyard

To the right...

... and to the left.

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

The office

The chapel

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

The beautiful colonnade ... 

... shows the efforts spent on design throughout the hacienda.

Beautiful flowers and plants abound

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!

Another paddock area...

... where I found this marvelous tree!

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.

These rooms also contained several...

... Mayan carvings.

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

The path leading to...

... the guest quarters.

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.

The smokestack that would carry the smoke and fumes away

The machine house contained all of the major...

... engines, flywheels and other industrial revolution era machinery.

While functional, all the buildings display the same care of detail as the house.

The work house, where much of the spinning took place...

... looks like a European church or courthouse!

Last view of the main house from the machine house patio.

It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon... in fact you could easily spend a whole day here exploring and absorbing the culture of the times.

Watch this space for the final blog post of our visit to the cenote of San Ignacio!

Love to all,

-doug and elaine
-mom and dad
-nana and papa