Poxilá

Some 9 km south-west of Umán, and about 25 km south-west of downtown Mérida as the crow flies, the hacienda village of Poxilá belongs to Umán municipality. Bolón, a noticeably bigger village, is around 4.5 km away. Population figures run from 198 in 1900 to 801 in 2005 and 888 in 2020.

Locals explain the Yucatec Maya name as 'the place of the custard apples (anonas) and the water'. Census records called it San Antonio Poxilá for much of the 20th century: it took that form in 1910, reverted to Poxilá in 1970, became San Antonio Poxilá again in 1980 and was recorded as Poxila in 1990. Like many settlements in Umán, it developed from a hacienda and appears on the list of Yucatecan haciendas.

Arriving, it is the old estate that catches your eye before anything else. Long hacienda buildings painted red, with doors and small windows, line the paved road, and a red wall closes off part of the former grounds; a small hacienda church stands behind a red gate. With no visitor services in the village, plan on a brief stop while driving the old hacienda villages south-west of Umán, combined with Bolón and Oxholón.