Yaxnic

Yaxnic, also called San Nicolás Yaxnic, is a comisaría of Mérida municipality about 23 km south of the city centre, on the southern edge of the Reserva Cuxtal. It borders Molas to the north and Dzoyaxché to the east. The village had 907 inhabitants in the 2020 census; in 1900, when it was still a hacienda community, it had 352. Its Maya name refers to a leafy tree. The village is small, with a Catholic church painted yellow and red, a casa comisarial, a park, a kindergarten and a primary school.

Yaxnic grew around a henequen hacienda. It had its heyday during the henequen boom and, like other estates of the time, issued its own tokens to pay workers, which collectors now prize for their design. After the agrarian reform of 1937 its land became a collective ejido and the hacienda's core remained private property. In the early 2010s the main buildings still stood in ruins, with the tall chimney of the machine house rising over the ruins.

The hacienda was restored and officially inaugurated in March 2026, and it now hosts events for up to 500 people and opens for day visits. The day pass includes a guided tour of the main house, now a house museum with objects the owners collected, the machine house where the fibre was processed, the chapel, the gardens and the unrestored ruins, including an old cell. Visitors can rent bicycles and ATVs to ride the stony land around the estate. The highlight is the Cenote Club, an adults-only area around an open cenote with loungers, hammocks, a bar and food service. A restaurant in the gardens serves breakfast and lunch, and the hacienda runs a shuttle from Mérida.