Ekpedz

Ekpedz is a village in the municipality of Tixcacalcupul, in the forested southeast of Yucatán, about 7 km by road east of Chikindzonot and some 65 km south of Valladolid. With 1,617 inhabitants in the 2020 census it is the second-largest place in its municipality after the seat, Tixcacalcupul, and it has grown steadily: INEGI counted 78 people here in 1930, about 430 in 1970 and just over 1,000 in 2000. The meaning of the Maya name is uncertain; it may be "crushed star" (ek', star, and pedz, crushed) or "dark trap".

Ekpedz was a ranchería under the municipality of Valladolid until 1932, when it passed to Tixcacalcupul and, on 20 August of that year, was raised to the rank of pueblo. Its name was written Ehpedz in the censuses until 1980. The municipality it belongs to was part of the Cupul province before the conquest and was hit hard early in the Caste War, when rebels took the seat in August 1847. Maize is still the main crop around here, along with beans, chiles and vegetables, plus cattle and poultry, and many residents commute or migrate for work to Cancún and Playa del Carmen.

The building to look at is the church: a long single nave of rough limestone masonry with an arched doorway, now covered by a modern pitched metal roof set over the old walls. Inside, the plain whitewashed walls still show faded fragments of painted decoration, and an arch frames the altar end. There are no visitor services in the village; it is a stop for travellers already exploring Chikindzonot and the back roads of the Maya zone.