Today we the last of our travels around Mexico. We leave next week to go back to the states, back to reality. Back to a land where I have to do my own laundry, cook my own meals, pay the bills, etc. But back to a land where I don't have to constantly worry about carrying my identification, where I can breathe clean air with no foul smells, where the bus systems aren't so rickety, and where public restrooms are free and rather easy to find. It will be a bitter sweet ending here shortly. Anyways....
For today's travel, we went to the hacienda se llama Sotuta de Peon. It is a historical site because it functions as the older haciendas do. I was super excited!!
We arrived early, and walked around the pueblo a bit. Then school let out for recess and some of the group members played with the elementary-aged kids. It was so cute. There was a group that played duck-duck-goose and another group that played soccer, just shooting goals. The kids were so happy to play with us and everyone had a great time. As we had to leave, the teacher commented on how it was a pleasure for the kids to interact with us. They all loved us so much. As we left the hacienda a few hours later, David played with them as we suben el autobus and then a group of boys blew kisses to all us girls later. Way cute!!! They live so simple, and yet they are so happy.
The hacienda was awesome, just as I expected it would be. The grounds were beautiful with fountains, gardens, etc. The house was furnished with furniture from the 19th century with only two original objects.
There was a small pool to the side, and a restaurant in the back. Since henequén is not profitable enough now to support the large hacienda, the restaurant, hotels, and tours of the hacienda make up for the difference.
Henequén, or oro verde del Yucatan (green gold of the Yucatan) as they say, was very popular during the hacienda period of the late 1800s, early 1900s here in the Yucatan. Haciendas functioned as their own private production facilities for the material. Henequén is used to make ropes, baskets, hats, etc. The good was exported to Europe and the United States.
We saw how the hacienda functioned as a henequén factory. The plants grow like a catcus.
They don't need any extra irragation or water. The leaves are the part that is used to make the material. The plants are spaced one meter apart. To transplant and grow new plants, the top of the plant is just cut off and then planted in the ground. The leaves eventually become the roots.
After chopping the leaves off the plant, they are placed on carts that function on a small railway system just for the hacienda. The carts are pulled by mulas o mules, horses, donkeys back to the main hacienda. Then the leaves are put through a machine and are stripped of their hard covering and the pulp is hung out to dry on racks.
After being dry for several hours, it was exported. Or a small supply was used to make ropes on the hacienda.
In a different building the hacienda had machines from Europe and the US and showed us how the henequén was used to make ropes, etc. It was just facinating.
As we toured the henequén farm, a old man who used to work on the farm lives there. He was so funny and so cute.
He showed us how the mayan, Koreans, and Chinese laborours used to cut the henequén and transport it back to the hancienda. He let us take a tour of his mayan house. It was small and simple. Nothing much. It was a humbling experience to know that possessions don't create happiness, and that there are people who live with only the basics literally: a hamaca, to sleep in, three bowls for food, and a tool that grinds corn to make tortillas. He also had a little shrine built to the Virgin. Im sure he receives help from somewhere because he doesn't have a garden in the back to glean food from and no animals for protein, things that most people have who live that way. He said hello to us in about ten different languages though, and the whole presentation was done in Maya, and then translated into Spanish.
Then we went swimming in one of the local cenotes. We passed two others on the way. The water was clear, cool, and amazing! It was so refreshing.
As usual there were bats flying around above us and it was dark and cool inside the cave. David forgot his swimming trunks so he wore his shorts tied with a rope made from henequen that the guide gave us. Good use of local supplies.
After the tour of the hacienda, we ate at the restaurant with our señoras. Yosy, my señoras, is so funny. She kept bringing up how expensive it was to eat there and how there should have been more food. We continuously asked for more glasses filled with ice because it melts so fast!!! Then at the end, we didn't get served dessert. She must have stopped every waitor in the restaurant and asked why we weren't served dessert. The owner was there, an older gentlemen. She would say Jovencito!! (young one) Postre? And then continue on as most Mexican women do to explain that we were missed. 10 minutes later the dessert arrived, but by that time I was laughing so hard that it was difficult to eat the arroz con leche. Yosy definitely knows how to enter a room and take control of it. She cracks us all up.
Everyday: There is no carpet here, that I have witnessed. In most homes in the US carpet is popular in the bedrooms, living rooms, classrooms, etc. Everything here is tile or rugs. Yosy said that because it is really dusty and really hot it makes carpet hard to clean, so everything is tile.
Tile in the haciendas, tile today. The floor in the mayan home...dirt. It is really different and not very soft at times when all I want to do is just lay out and strech. But it is cheaper.
One more: PEMEX. People think gas prices are bad in the US, which I agree they are, but here there is only ONE gas station, PEMEX. The prices are fixed by the government because the government owns the company.
PEMEX is the sole provider of all gasoline, so it is useless trying to drive around finding the cheapest price because there is only one price. Take it or ride the bus or walk. Those are your options. And so I have heard (because I can't seem to find the price of gas anywhere) that the gas is rather expensive. Yosy said it is really expensive, but the younger drives just say it isn't cheap.
Chao from Mexico!!
