Chechmil

Chechmil, a little Maya community belonging to Chemax municipality in eastern Yucatán, stands around 30 m above sea level. In a straight line, Valladolid is about 26 km to its south-west and the municipal seat, Chemax, about 13 km to the south-east. The closest settlement is Uspibil, roughly 4 km west. A second Chechmil exists in Chankom municipality, on the western side of Valladolid; the two are separate places.

Its Maya name was entered in census records for decades as X-Chechmil or X Chechmil, and only from 1990 as plain Chechmil. For most of the twentieth century hardly anyone lived here: 22 people in 1921, a few dozen up to the 1950s, 121 in 1970. Growth followed, to 190 in 1990, 478 in 2005, 547 in 2010 and 671 at the 2020 count. As elsewhere in Chemax, households depend on the milpa, which yields maize, beans, tomatoes, chili and jícama, and on raising pigs and cattle.

Cenotes lie hidden in the scrub around the village, which is typical of this whole region. One, recorded as Cenote Maya, was photographed in 2019 about 1.6 km outside the village to the west: a cavern cenote with clear green water, lit from within, reached by a wooden stairway. Apart from that there is nothing set up for visitors. Chechmil is a regular farming village, and because it sits close to the Valladolid to Chemax road, a visit means only a short detour.