Mexico editor Gay Nagle Myers visited Merida for the first time, sampling the charms of the Yucatan capital and the unveiling of the Hyatt Regency’s new look following a seven-month design update. Gay’s first dispatch follows.
I have a new appreciation for rope.
My first foray after arrival in Merida was spent at Sotuta de Peon, about 10 miles south of Merida.
Josue, my guide for the day from the tourist office, gave no clue on the drive there, just saying, “It is a living hacienda, you will see.”
I did see. At the hacienda — which included a museum, a restaurant, a 30-room hotel spread in colorful adobe-like cottages over the grounds, and a cenote (sinkhole) — I watched demonstrations of how henequen, a tough agave plant, was split, mashed and crushed until all that remained were mounds of fibers that were spun into strands of twine and rope.
I met Don Antonio, an 85-year-old Mayan who worked the henequen fields for more than 60 years and now is retired. He held court in his mud-walled, thatched-roof hut with a dirt floor, complete with two rope hammocks and a small altar in the corner.
He told the story in his Mayan tongue of henequen, which the Mayans called “green gold.”
Most of the fields and the working haciendas where henequen was produced are gone. Sotuta de Peon was restored, with much of the work done by Don Antonio, and now serves as a reminder of former times.
I later dined at the hacienda’s restaurant on sopa de lima, the classic Mayan chicken soup with lime juice, followed by a corn tortilla stuffed with beans and covered with cochinita pibil (pulled pork).
This was all before the main course — Edam cheese with ground beef, raisins, olives and tomatoes — all washed down with a glass of rice water.
And in between, Josue spoke of Mayan traditions that are woven into his family traditions.
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