Our Favorite Hacienda

Lloyd Sensat
Sunday, April 27, 2008

In the Yucatan of Mexico there are numerous haciendas. They are the equivalent of our Louisiana plantations. One of the most complete surviving complexes is Hacienda Yaxcopoil located about 20 miles from Merida. It is the real thing and one of our all time favorite places in the world. It is one of those magic places that you never forget and which keeps calling to you to return. It is an ancient site built around the ruins of Mayan pyramids and surrounded by old Mayan houses.  It represents the entire history of the area from prehispanic Mayan to Spanish colonial to the boom years of henequen (sisal) cultivation in the late 19th and early 20th century. The hacienda itself dates back to the 17th century and was built of stones pillaged from the pyramids. The name "Yaxcopoil" is Mayan for "the place of the green Alamo tree" In its heyday, Yaxcopoil was composed of 22,ooo acres and was considered to be one of the finest cattle ranches and henequin plantations in the Yucatan. The double "Moorish "arch entrance gate is considered to be the best example of its type. The big house is surrounded by beautiful gardens and orchards with a corral to the front left side.  The interior of the casa principal looks like the family walked out of the house at the end of the 19-century but leaving it completely intact and under the watchfull eye of a caretaker. Indeed, it is still owned by descendents of Don Donaciano Garcia Rejon who acquired the place in 1864. His oil portrait still hangs from the great reception room wall. There are no beds in the house but huge hooks in the walls for hammocks. It has an expensive system of running water for it time for the kitchen, interior bathrooms and even a swimming pool. The house has is its own private chapel and its own patron saint. Back from the big house is the shredding plant, workshop and storehouses. The buildings all have magnificent neoclassic facades with statues in niches. Other buildings on the site are the school, hospital, store and workers quarters.  Yaxcopoil is one of those places that you do not want to leave. It is so beautiful that you want "to weep" yet it has not been prettified for tourists. I would love to spend some time there with Gene, my sketchbook and a good book, eating guacamole and chips with sopa de lima and drinking cold Mexican beer!

Photo: Gene & Lloyd at Hacienda Yaxcopoil