Hacienda Santo Domingo de Yunku

The Staff

2007-11-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

Miguel is the caretaker and the person to go to if you need anything. He and his assistant Raymundo work at the hacienda Monday-Saturday. The keep the lawn and clean the pool. They can bring you bottled drinking water as you need it. Miguel has a truck and can take your laundry to Sacalum or one of the maids can have it done by hand in the village. If you have a problem you should go down to his house beside the Tienda Teresita. His wife Guadlupe often works with her sister Tere for our guests. His daughter Monica has just finished nursing school in Merida and is doing her residency but she is often around if you should need her.

Tere is one of my maids in Merida and she often helps out at Yunku. She and her sister Guadalupe or her daughter often come together to clean. The schedule that usually works best is for them to come early in the morning around 8 or 9 and clean up the dinner dishes. Then they can help prepare breakfast though I would never trust them to cook and egg. Then they will make the beds and clean the floors and bathrooms. On Tuesdays and Friday's Tere is in Merida so she'll send someone else. In the afternoons the maids can come back if you need them. You should work out a schedule with them that will work for you. They usually are reluctant to work very late at night as they all have their families to cook for and they generally go to bed early. Tere lives at the small yellow house next to the mayan house next to the basketball court and playground.

Isa is the owner's maid and she cleans the hacienda when there are no guests. She comes once or twice a week and does the general cleaning around the hacienda. She may or may not show up clean while you are there. She generally comes in the afternoons. Isa lives at the large yellow house just before the curve.

You should tip them as you see appropriate based on the amount of work they did for you personally. Isa and Miguel are on staff and paid wages weekly. If they do some extra service for you please tip them. Tere and Guadalupe work for us at the hacienda only when we have guests. They are both comfortable with "Gringo's" as they have both work for years for us and our friends. $5-10 usd a day is a good tip for them. You can tip them at the end of your stay or daily.

Directions to the Hacienda

2007-11-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

General Instructions:
The hacienda is approximately 45 minutes south of Merida. You will follow the signs to Uxmal. Highway no 261 has been reopened and now you will bypass the hacienda towns of Xtepen and Yaxcopoil. You will pass the exit to the Starwood resort & hotel at the Hacienda Temozon. At the next crossroad, Abala/Ochil, you will turn East, to pass through Abala and Mucuyche. The next decision point is at the square in Mucuyche. You will turn South proceeding toward Sacalum; however, Yunku is the next village, on the right. There is a small sign that is obscured by foilage in the rainy season.

Specific Instructions:
From the Airport in Merida follow the Avenida Aviación South-southwest direction Uman. You cross over the Periferico and turn right. Take the direction Cancun-Campeche. Just past the second Pemex gas station you'll take the exit for Campeche-Uxmal. You take this highway 180 to the Uxmal exit. (just after the Uman exit) Turn right and curve up to the highway 261. Go right in the direction of Uxmal-Chetumal all the way to the exit for Abala. At this exit you turn left and go straight through the village of Abala. Watch out for topes (speed bumps). The first one is at the school, right before the village.
In Abala you will dead end at a fountain. With caution go strait on this bumpy road or go through the village and come back to this road. Calle 11. Proceed to Mucuyche. Upon entering the village, you will dead end at a well . You can go strait for a couple of blocks on the bad dirt and big boulder road and then turn right OR you can make an immediate left and then a right and curve around the ruins of hacienda Mucuyche. Passing the ruins and the village plaza you will come to a "T". Turn right, South, following the sign for Sacalum. *

About 5 minutes down this road is the turn off for Yunku. Turn right and go through the village. You will pass the house of Miguel the caretaker just befote the Tienda Terisita on your right. Then the house of Isa, the house cleaner, is just before the curve. Do not take the curve. Take the dirt road strait up the hill and through the gates of the hacienda and park inside the gate to the left.

The main house, red, the Casa Principal is the first building on the left. The Taller, yellow, is the next building.

More about the Hacienda

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The 17 century Casa Principal sits on the top of the hill with a slopping lawn in front overlooking the Casa des Machinas and the Hacienda's old office and store. The Main House includes the Kitchen, Dining Hall, Game Room - Den and 2 Master Bedrooms with king size beds and 2 bathrooms. A north facing portico separates the two bedrooms. The Dining Room can easily seat 12. The Game Room is equipped with movies and games and comfortable seating. The most dramatic feature of the Hacienda is the Portico that runs the length of the backside of the Main House. It overlooks the sunken corrals and the water garden.

The huge pool is refurnished with fresh spring water every 2 days and chemicals are never added. The crystal water is pumped up from the cenote which has an entrance just 10 feet below the pool in the bamboo garden. You can swim in the pool or the cenote. We love to swim in the cenote at night when it is lit. You feel like you are floating above the earth in the sky looking back to down to the ground. This fantasy is only broken by the bats who fly in and out of the cenote and consume most of the insects on the property. Occasionally you will be visited by the owl who has recently taken up residence. If you dont mind a hike and not touching bottom you can swim in the Sabakah cenote whose depth has yet to be determined. A diving trip of the cenotes in the region can be arranged from Yunku. Every other day the pool is drained into the aqueduct. This fascinating process is the ideal time to walk the top of the aquaduct around the 6 acre citrus orchard. Take your binoculars as the bird watching is optimal at this time when the water cascades out of the walls the gardens ending in the fountain in the center of the garden. The frogs you heard serenading you last night can often be seen here in the shallow pools. If you pass under the back arches of the aqueduct you can pick your own papaya from the plantation for breakfast. Fill a basket from the orchard with fresh oranges, mandarins, grapefruit or limes for breakfast or afternoon aguas frescas. On the way back up to the house try the fruit from the anona tree. If you are a serious birdwatcher you'll want to hike a mile down the road to the lake, a rare find in the Yucatan.

If you need more than 2 bedrooms rent the Guest house on the west side of the garden. It sits above the citrus orchard with a sunset view of the entire aqueduct system. This house features a master bedroom and bath with a queen size bed next door to a huge room with 2 queen beds and sitting area and several hammocks. All of the beds are new and feature 400 thread count sheets and natural fiber covers. This is the room where the cowboys slept in hammocks when the hacienda was a working cattle ranch and it was the workshop (Taller) when the hacienda was a hennequen plantation.

This is the ideal vacation rental for a family or group of friends. Uxmal is 30 minutes away to the southwest. Mani the convent town has the best regional restaurant in the Yucatan and it is 30 minutes to the south east. 15 minutes north is Hacienda Temozon where you can have a gourmet meal. 15 minutes to the west is Ochil the parrador where you can have a great lunch and browse in the Bananmex supported craft shops. There is a museum of the history of hennequen here too.
Before you come to Yunku we will send you a shopping list and when you arrive at the airport we will meet you with your provisions and instructions explaining the hacienda and the maps you will need for the area. At the hacienda you will meet the caretaker and you might see the gardener around early in the morning till around 1pm. The maid comes daily from the village daily.