Ichmul

Ichmul is a village in the municipality of Chikindzonot, in the far south of eastern Yucatán, right by the Quintana Roo border and between Peto and Tihosuco. It lies 24 km south of Chikindzonot and 38 km east of Peto, and has 860 inhabitants (2020 census), making it the second-largest place in the municipality. The name comes from the Maya Ich Mul, "between hills". Today it is a quiet farming village, but in colonial times it was one of the important towns of this frontier.

Before the conquest Ichmul was part of the Maya province of Cochua. In the late 16th century it was given in encomienda to Antonio Méndez, and around 1579 it counted some 400 heads of household and had a convent. When the Caste War broke out in 1847, the white and mestizo residents fortified the town against the Maya rebels, but it fell to them on 19 December 1847. In 1848 Colonel Eulogio Rosado set up his headquarters at Ichmul to retake the region, and the rebels were pushed back into the forest that year. Ichmul later belonged to Peto and came under Chikindzonot around 1971.

What survives is a set of colonial buildings unusually grand for a village of this size: a 16th-century church of architectural interest, colonial facades with carved stone pediments, a roofless ruined church whose walls now enclose the cemetery, a chapel still in use, and arcaded old buildings along the main street, including the old hacienda of Ichmul. Many walls are weathered, patched and roofless. There are no visitor services, so come with fuel and water.