Cuncunul

Cuncunul is the seat of one of Yucatán's smallest municipalities, about 12 km west of Valladolid and roughly 1 km south of the free Highway 180 between Valladolid and Chichén Itzá. The town has 1,444 inhabitants (2020 census), out of 1,714 in the municipality, whose other settlements are hamlets such as San Diego, Chebalam, San Francisco and X-Akabchén. The Maya name is read in different ways, among them "place of the useless spell" and "place of the enchanted pot". Residents are called cuncunulenses.

Before the conquest this was territory of the Cupul Maya. In colonial times Cuncunul was held in encomiendas, with grants recorded in 1700, 1722 and 1785. In 1846 it belonged to the partido of Valladolid, under Uayma, and it became a municipality in its own right in the early 20th century. The surrounding land is flat, given over to cattle, forestry and milpa, and dotted with pre-Hispanic Maya sites, among them Tomdzimín, Tzeleal, Tzacahuil, Bacché and Cibbá, none of them developed for visitors.

The town is small and easy to walk. Its landmark is the church of San Juan Bautista, built in the 18th century, which closes the view at the end of the main street. In the middle of town is a cenote, its mouth hung with plants, one of about ten in the municipality along with X-Cabchén. The patron saint's feast is 24 June, for San Juan Bautista; the town also keeps Holy Week, the Holy Cross on 3 May, Day of the Dead on 2 November and the Virgin of Guadalupe on 12 December.