We visited Hacienda Yunku last week as part of a tour from Merida that also included a visit to Uxmal. I really wanted to learn about the haciendas of Yucatan and visit one as well while we were in Yucatan, and Hacienda Yunku really blew me away.
Haciendas henequeneras were extremely important to the history and culture of Yucatan. They were agricultural estates for the growing and processing of henequen (a variety of agave that yields a fiber suitable for rope and twine, similar to sisal). Much of the wealth in Merida (those mansions on Paseo de Montejo) was from haciendas henequeneras. The hacienda owners lived in Merida and traveled to their haciendas for business, while servants on the estates lived as indentured servants on the estates. For a host of political and economic reasons, the haciendas declined by the middle of the 20th century.
Many of the haciendas are now hotels, venues for events and weddings, or used for other purposes.
Hacienda Yunku is a hotel, but you can also visit for the day (our tour guide arranged this). Our visit was wonderful, because the hacienda has so much to offer. There's a beautiful restaurant, where the staff served us a wonderful Yucatecan meal of Ensalada Xec, panuchos, and dulce de papaya. We also had a couple of beers. Then we wandered down to the cenote (natural sinkhole or pit of groundwater for swimming) on the property. The cenote was accessible by a series of staircases and completely covered on top by rock. We swam/floated for an hour or so, which was a wonderful experience (we had never been in a cenote without other people swimming nearby, so this was such a unique, special, private experience). Then we wandered up to their pool, which is gorgeous and dried off by laying in the sun by the pool. The grounds are gorgeous and worth exploring as well.
The staff at the hacienda were lovely. So too were the attractions at the hacienda. It was a wonderful, relaxing place to spend a few hours of an afternoon on a hot day. read more