Tanil

Tanil (sometimes spelled Taníl) sits between Umán and Mérida. Umán town is roughly 4 km to the west, and downtown Mérida about 12 km to the north-east as the crow flies, so few of Umán's comisarías are closer to the state capital. The population has grown slowly but steadily, from 247 in 1910 to 427 in 2005 and 612 in the 2020 count. Its name is Maya in origin.

The village started life as a hacienda and appears on Spanish Wikipedia's list of Yucatecan haciendas. The estate still shapes it. Red walls with a gateway screen the grounds, a very tall brick chimney rises behind them, and inside are lawns and a red one-storey building. Its farmland went to the villagers as an ejido once the 1937 agrarian reform decrees took effect, the same fate as most estates in the henequen zone.

Expect a calm, residential place with nothing set up for tourists. Beyond the hacienda, look at the small modern church, whose red bell wall is built in a curve, and the neatly kept main park. Wikipedia's article on Tanil portrays a close-knit community that still makes tortillas by hand and celebrates its patron saint with music. For shops and restaurants, drive 4 km to Umán, where the old convent dedicated to San Francisco de Asís and its church both date from the 18th century.