Halachó

Halachó is a town of 10,183 people (2020 census) in the far west of Yucatán, the seat of the municipality of the same name and one of the last Yucatán towns on Federal Highway 180 before the Campeche state line; Bécal, the Campeche town famous for its jipi palm hats, is only about 7 km beyond. It lies about 67.5 km southwest of Mérida's southern Periférico. The Maya name is usually explained as "place of the rat's reeds", from jalal, reed or cane, and ch'o', rat.

Before the Spanish conquest the area belonged to the Ah Canul chiefdom. In 1549 it was granted in encomienda to Gaspar Pacheco, and later holders included Pedro Cepeda y Lira. After independence it was part of the Camino Real Bajo district, governed from Hunucmá, and it was made a villa around 1875. In March 1915 the last armed clash between the troops of General Salvador Alvarado, sent by Venustiano Carranza, and the rebels of Abel Ortiz Argumedo was fought near Halachó; Alvarado won, marched on Mérida and became governor. Halachó became the seat of its own municipality in 1918. The Mérida–Campeche railway ran through town, and early 20th-century photographs show its station and its plaza, church and convent.

The centrepiece is the parish church of Santiago Apóstol on the main square, a wide ochre façade with two bell towers and a statue in front of the atrium. The state government dates it to the 16th century, while a study in the UNAM journal Península describes the present building as 18th-century and notes how strongly its façade and nave play up the patron saint. Santiago's fiesta is the big event, running from 19 July to 4 August; the town also celebrates the Virgen de Santa Ana from 13 to 17 April and holds a traditional fiesta in the last week of November.