Maní
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◈ Right in the heart of the state lies Maní, one of its oldest towns. Its name means “the place where everything happened,” in Maya.
Walking down its streets means discovering a living community that still converses in its mother tongue and proudly wears the colors and designs that set it apart.
It means watching women embroider and cook, children zip around on bicycle, and the elderly relax in the shade of the trees. This is the starting point for rediscovering the Maya.
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◆ Stroll through the streets of Maní and the Convento de San Miguel Arcángel.
◆ Visit its artisan workshops.
◆ Explore Xcabachén cenote
◆ Harvest honey with local beekeepers.
Enjoy a delectable portion of poc chuc, the area’s Yucatecan specialty.
❖ Uxmal Archeological Site
Discover the remains of Mayan splendor and feel the force of its ancestors.
The name of this pre-Hispanic capital comes from “Oxmal,” meaning “built three times,” alluding to the age of the city. The oldest reference to Uxmal is in the Chilam Balam text from Chumayel, indicating that it was first built around the 7th century.
Its architecture is done in the Puuc style, although influence from the Toltec and Teotihuacan cultures is also evident. This influence is seen in engravings and sculptures of the god Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent, and the figureheads featuring the god of water, called Chaac in this region.
Uxmal is made up of fifteen groups of buildings built around courtyards on a north-south axis.
The main ones are Pirámide del Adivino (Pyramid of the Magician), Cuadrángulo de las Monjas (Nunnery Quadrangle), and Palacio del Gobernador (Governor’s Palace), as well as Gran Pirámide (Grand Pyramid), Conjunto de la Casa de las Palomas (House of the Doves Complex), and Templo Sur (Southern Temple).
❖ Reserva Biocultural del Pucc
The archeological site Kiuic is set in the center of this biocultural reserve. This Mayan city developed between the years 800 B.C. and 800 A.D., in the Classic Period of the Maya.
Mayan towns, archeological sites, caves, and a great diversity of plant and animal life live in this biocultural reserve established in 2011.
It encompasses Muna, Oxkutzcab, Santa Elena, Tekax, and Ticul municipalities, coming to a total of 134,000 hectares. The reserve was created to protect and promote the responsible use of the environmental services offered to society. Currently, it works to preserve jaguars, their prey, and the remnants of the Puuc rainforest.
Whoever is interested in exploring this part of Mayan territory will be able to hike trails through the rainforest, bird-watch, and spend time with its Mayan communities and their archeological legacy. In the very heart of the reserve are cabins open to visitors and researchers.
❖ Ruta de los Conventos
Discover Mayan treasures on the Convent Route, a tour with a cultural aspect as well.
The Yucatan Peninsula was evangelized by the Franciscans, and today you can still see colonial-era churches built by the Minor Friars around the state. Few know that hidden amongst the Yucatan’s rich Mayan heritage, there are dozens of lovely churches and convents.
Behind austere exteriors, high walls, and arched bell gables, they guard incredible, elaborate baroque altars. However, in the south central region, a cluster of them make up what is called the Convent Route for their beauty and proximity to each other.
You could say that Maní is set at the halfway point on this route. To its south is Tekax with its former Convento y Parroquia de San Juan Bautista, a church from the 17th century, followed by Oxkutzcab and the Iglesia de San Francisco de Asís with its superb baroque altarpiece decorated with sculptures and wood carvings, and Ticul boasting the former Convento de San Antonio de Padua.
❖ Tour the Cenote Xcabachén Cave
Come hear the legend of Maní’s natural cenote pool, as told by some of the locals; cool off while refreshing your soul.
An enormous kapok tree stretches its branches over Xcabachén cenote pool, a sacred site that is the subject of so many stories.
Chat with the children who wait for you there, eager to re-tell the legends that have entranced so many for hundreds of years.
❖ Learn about Beekeeping
Travel the route and visit its more than 30 beekeepers; discover the rituals and lovely analogies that make bees continue to be a sacred creature for the Maya.
For the Mayan people, honey from Melipona bees is medicinal, nourishing, and sweet. In Maní, the ancestral custom of beekeeping continues, especially for medicinal uses. The municipality has around 30 Melipona beekeepers who extract honey with healing powers that is also prized as a dietary supplement.
These honeybees are vitally important to the community, and so ritual ceremonies such as U Jaanli kab (the food of the bees) and U jeets luumil kab (the ideal conditions for honey production) are carried out, with the goal of bringing good weather and plentiful blooms across the countryside, as well as for the next season’s honey harvest.
If you would like to know more about beekeeping and get to know the women who do it, Maní is the perfect place to take part in this environmental tourism activity.
❖ Savor Emblematic Dishes with Traditional Cooks
Discover Maní’s culinary past, brought to life by Doña Clotilde’s hands.
What truly seduces the palate is poc chuc, a stew based on pork that was first marinated, then grilled. It is proudly said that the local version is the best in the state. You can experience Maní’s rich culinary traditions up close with Doña Clotilde Poot.
In her kitchen, she demonstrates her deep knowledge and traditional recipes, preparing traditional chayita gourds, sikil-pak salsa, beans with pork, spicy cochinita pibil pork, all accompanied by a delicious chaya, lime, and water drink and the region’s delectable candies. If you visit her on Day of the Dead, her pib will knock your socks off.
Magical Towns in
Yucatán
