Tour of the Yucatan: June 25 ❤ Merida and La Hacienda de Sotuta de Peon

We got up really early to eat breakfast before our tour.  We'd booked two guided tours the night before, before we ate dinner.  We ate at a place called Bisquet Bisquet Obregon and had a light breakfast since we'd eaten so much the night before.  Our tour van came around 9 and we were the only ones going to Sotuta de Peon.  Once we were there, other people joined us.  La Hacienda de Sotuta de Peon was a plantation that produces henequen, a strong fiber used to make rope and other things.  In the early days, it was like slavery almost for the workers because they were paid with money that only had value at the hacienda.  The hacienda was abandoned at one point by the Peon family and was restarted by a man who grew up in the Yucatan but had German roots.  The house was interesting.  The rooms were so small even though a lot of people lived there.  There was a bed in one of the rooms, but when the house was owned by the Peon family, they slept in hammocks throughout the house.  You could still see the hooks where they were hung.  The kitchen was small because our guide told us that if there were big parties, the guests would bring food.  There was a place for a fire under the counter where it would heat the stove area.  We got to see them prepare the henequen to make it into rope and all the machinery that was used before to prepare and manufacture rope.  We also saw the machinery they use now, since it is still a fully-functioning producer and manufacturer of henequen and its products.  

The only bed in the house.  If you look closely there's a hook for a hammock on the wall above the candlestick on the left.  They had many of these hooks on the walls since that's how the original family slept.

The kitchen with the place for a wood fire to heat the stove.

In front of the dining room.

The grounds of the hacienda.

Me preparing the strands of henequen.  Only the strongest fibers remain in your hands and are used to make rope.  The weaker fibers are used to make other things like cleaning supplies.

This is one of the original machines they used to make henequen rope.

A pile of raw henequen before it enters the machine to get processed.

Henequen fibers out to dry.

Laying out the henequen plant before the machine extracts the fibers.

This machine strips the fibers from the henequen plant.

Sitting on a bale of henequen fibers.

Old machines that produced spools of henequen fiber.

An old machine that weaved a type of cloth from the henequen fibers.

An old machine that makes rope from the henequen fibers.

We then took a donkey-driven tour of the fields of henequen.  The cart went along old railroad tracks.  

Our donkey cart.  :)

Fields of henequen.

Our donkey's head and some of the buildings in the fields of henequen.

We went through the fields and stopped at an old Mayan house where we met an old man named Antonio.  He mostly spoke Mayan and Juan spoke to him a bit in Mayan since he knows a bit from his job.  Antonio was so happy that Juan could understand and speak some Mayan.  He told us about the house and showed us the kitchen and how you would grind corn with a type of mortar and pestle.  He also showed us how to properly lie in a hammock: diagonally.  He said he'd have his wife on one side and his other wife on the other.  He was joking...at least I think he was.  :)  He and our guide showed us how to plant a henequen plant with a curved metal tool.  They also showed us how the plant looks when it dies and the flower that grows on top of it when it's dead.  

Antonio showing Juan how to sleep properly in a hammock made from henequen.

Antonio showing me how to grind corn with the mortar and pestle.

Juan, Antonio, and me.

After we left Antonio, we went to one of the eight cenotes on the grounds.  This cenote had even clearer water than X'Keken.  It wasn't quite as big, but it was beautiful and it felt good to cool off.  

The cenote at the Hacienda de Sotuta de Peon.

We changed and our donkey cart took us to the restaurant.  Our tour included food, so we got tortilla chips with a spicy cream dip, a bean dip, and pico de gallo.  Then our entrees came.  Juan got queso relleno and I got cochinita pibil which reminded me of pulled pork.  So yummy!!!   We also got flan and dulce de papaya for dessert.  The papaya dessert came with grated queso de bola on top.  It looked strange but tasted so good.  I got a few things at the shop and then we went back to Merida in the van. 

Yummy queso relleno.

Mmmm...cochinita pibil.

I had seen a dress I really liked in a store window, so we went there.  The dress was a little big and they said they could tailor it for free and have it ready for me in a couple of hours.  While we were waiting we went to an artesan store, to an internet cafe, and back to the Neveria Colon.  While we were at the ice cream shop, the gay pride parade passed by.  It was quite impressive.  It started to rain as the parade started and a cross-dressed man in what looked like a wedding dress, whose sash said Señorita de la Primavera, was walking with a man in a suit through the walkway by the ice cream shop because it was raining.  I took a picture and "she" stopped to pose.  

The gay pride parade.

Señorita de la Primavera posing for me.

We went back to pick up my dress and then went to see if Kung Fu Panda 2 was playing in the cinema that was four blocks away that the woman at the dress shop had told us about.  We didn't get there in time for the movie and got soaked from the rain on the walk back to the hotel.  We showered and rested before going out to the Chaya Maya again for dinner.  We saw the family from our tour there since we had recommended the restaurant to them.  This time we drank chaya which is a green drink made from the chaya leaf.  I ordered Brazo de Reina and Juan ordered escabeche de pavo.  Mine was corn ground with chaya with a hard-boiled egg mixture inside.  It tasted sort of like a tamal.  I was exhausted after dinner since I couldn't fall asleep when Juan had taken a nap before dinner.  He ended up staying up to watch Marley and Me after I passed out.  It was much nicer having the A/C on and I slept like a baby.