Xcalakoop village

While traveling through a small village in the Yucatan, Mexico, we noticed a barbecue that was smoking with mouth-watering aromas spilling out.  Since there was an old painted Coke sign nearby, we decided to stop and see about lunch.  We didn’t speak any Spanish and the women spoke no English.  We all understood one another, (except, my friend did touch her chest in hopes of getting chicken breast, while I grabbed my thigh).  We both ended up with hindquarters.  The Mayan women, dressed in their traditional hand embroidered huipiles, hurriedly prepared our meal.

A woman motioned for us to sit down.  There were 3 plastic tables with 2-3 chairs at each one.  Our feet were on the bare ground, although there was a palapa (palm leaf) roof supported by beams above us.

There were several men across the street, cutting down and stripping thin trees of their bark.  We watched the men working on the trees while the women rolled and cooked our tortillas on the fire pit next to where we were sitting.  It was a wonderful experience, to be out of Cancun and the other touristy spots and to observe the locals in their everyday life and to smell the fresh tortillas, knowing our chicken would soon be done.

The men loaded up their trees, got in the truck and drove over to where we were.  They unloaded the trees and began working on the place we were eating at!  The trees were being used as the walls!  We watched the beginning of the very first wall go up.

I believe the village was Xcalakoop.  I will look for this village on my next trip through, September 22, 2008.  The picture is of Sayil on the Puuc route.