Tecoh, Telchaquillo, and Hacienda Tepich

One of the highlights (at least for some of us) of the same day that we went to Mayapan was the cenote found in Telchaquillo (in the municipality of Tecoh). This was the day that I started getting sick, so I did not go swimming in the cenote (maybe I was already sick? I can't remember). Anyways, our Maya profe Ismael made an offering of a few candles to the cenote and some of the people in our group then went swimming. Cenotes (say-no-tays) have always been sacred sites for the Maya and I can understand why. One must leave the surface of the earth to travel downwards toward the Underworld. Much like caves, cenotes mark this physical transition between two very different realms and the ancient Maya (as well as the modern day Maya) respect and revere cenotes because of this marked difference. The state of Yucatan (as well as the entire Yucatan Peninsula) contains several unique geographic features within the Maya region, but the cenote is possibly the most common one. I took a few pictures of the church in Telchaquillo and one of the roads that have become so familiar to me in Maya towns. They seemingly lead to "nowhere" but they are roads on which various people live and work. 

Here are a few pictures from the Maya town of Tecoh. The 90 year old, one-armed storyteller from the film Apocalypto (he is the man who recounts a story around the fire) lives here in Tecoh (we had a possible meeting with him, but unfortunately he was quite sick and could not receive visitors). It is a lovely town and much larger than other Maya pueblos that I have visited. The people here are very friendly and open. I even got to speak Maaya with a few of the locals. The church of Tecoh is very nice (as most of the churches in Mexico are- at least on the inside) and we barely missed a wedding that had just taken place (and yes, that is Emily's shoulder and arm that made their way into my picture!!). Here at Tecoh, as with most towns in Mexico, a Catholic Church is part of the center of the town.

After our busy and fun-filled day, we stopped at Hacienda Tepich for our afternoon meal. I ate empanadas de queso with a spicy red salsa on top. They were delicious! The grounds of this hacienda are gorgeous! I loved this place even though it is in the process of being renovated and refurbished. During the zenith of henequen production in Yucatan (by the 1880s Yucatan produced almost 90% of the rope and burlap bags used worldwide- needless to write, Yucatan was one of the wealthiest states of Mexico during this time period) more than 200 large haciendas were dedicated to the cultivation of henequen, the "green gold." It was a busy day, but I am always more than glad to visit an ancient Maya site and see parts of Mexico that I have not seen before.