Mucel

Mucel is a Maya village in the municipality of Chemax, in the far east of Yucatán. It lies about 28 km north-northeast of the town of Chemax and about 44 km northeast of Valladolid in a straight line, at around 25 m above sea level, in the flat bush country of the north of the municipality. The nearest village is Kuxeb, about 5 km to the southwest along the same local road.

The name is Maya, and the census has written it several ways: Mukel until 1970, Mucel in 1970, Mukel again in 1980, X-Muquel in 1990 and Mucel since 1995. The village had 140 people in 1940 and 269 in 1950, dipped slightly in 1960, and has grown at every census since, to 513 in 1990, 900 in 2005, 952 in 2010 and 1,166 in 2020. Like the rest of Chemax municipality, it lives mainly from the milpa, with maize and beans alongside chili, tomato and jícama, and from raising cattle and pigs.

There are no tourist services in Mucel. It is one of the many small Maya communities of eastern Yucatán, where daily life runs on farming and the village rhythm. Come with respect for that, ask before photographing people, and combine the drive with Chemax and the free highway between Valladolid and Cancún.