Mexico's Yucatan

MERIDA, Mexico - The Mexican hacienda, conceived in the 16th century and condemned in the early 20th, is making a comeback. But this time, instead of crops to reap or minerals to mine, it has rooms to rent.

In one such room recently, I dozed off to the sound of crickets and frogs, and woke on a massive bed beneath a slowly circling fan under a 25-foot-high ceiling of rough beams, in a room of very old, very thick walls. Just beyond the bougainvillea in the courtyard, fresh-squeezed orange juice and warm tortillas were waiting. This, I thought, is not a bad way to absorb Mexican history.

Two days later in another hacienda, I stood frowning in a broad hallway, surrounded by old family photos, tropical plants, a wall full of battered antique crosses and a dangling set of rusted cowboy spurs. The house's caretaker had secured the place for the night by locking me in from the outside. I could wander the halls, but I couldn't get outside. He also had forgotten to turn on the water. I was a prisoner without water. This, I thought, is another way to absorb Mexican history.

There has been a remarkable revival of hacienda properties across Mexico in the last few years, and these rehabilitated places, whether plain or fancy, give outsiders a chance to peel back a layer of Mexican history that they're not likely to find at a beach resort - or even on a Mayan pyramid.

"Hacienda" usually refers to a farm, ranch or mining operation that combines its commercial work with housing for the owner and laborers. Architectural styles vary depending on the region and age of the structures, but the buildings are typically arrayed around a courtyard, and most include a chapel.

I chose to approach the topic of haciendas in the flat countryside around Merida, the capital of Yucatan state in eastern Mexico, where summer temperatures climb into the humid 90s. But the state is an epicenter for hacienda activity, surrounded as it is by more than 400 old and renewed haciendas within a 75-mile radius.

About a dozen haciendas in Yucatan have been retooled as lodgings, where nightly rates range from $35 to $315. Dozens more have been pressed into service as restaurants, vacation homes, museums or community centers.

Together they form the legacy of the region's 19th-century bonanza from "henequen" - a fibrous plant of the agave family that can be processed into rope, hats, rugs and such. Henequen was shipped worldwide from the nearby port of Sisal, which is why it's known by that name (although true sisal and henequen are slightly different).

A century later, Sisal is again a backwater; the henequen trade has been devastated by a switch to man-made fabrics and metal cables and the competition from plantations in Africa. The largest hacienda estates have been broken up since the land reforms of the 1930s that grew out of the Mexican Revolution.

Hacienda luxury

I spent my first hacienda night at the luxurious San Jose Cholul, the second at San Antonio Chalante, the third at Hacienda Tanil and the fourth at Hacienda Temozon. In between, I looked in on other haciendas and asked a lot of strangers for directions in my rudimentary Spanish.

I found that the biggest obstacle to enjoyment of a company called Grupo Plan's luxury lodgings might be the tab. At haciendas San Jose Cholul, Temozon and nearby Santa Rosa (which I didn't have time to visit), rooms run $315 and up - daunting rates in a country of such poverty and in territory that's 20 miles from the nearest beach.

These haciendas are, however, exceedingly comfortable. At San Jose Cholul, which opened in late 1998, 11 rooms are arrayed in 18th-century buildings around a garden courtyard. Part of the old stone irrigation system has been refashioned into a swimming pool.

In my room, a small dining table, bearing fresh fruit and flowers, was set at the foot of the bed. Like the room, the bathroom had 25-foot ceilings.

A budget hacienda

Night Two was at the other end of the price spectrum, at a still-developing hacienda known as San Antonio Chalante.

Diane Dutton de Tuyub, a college archeology lecturer and horsewoman from Florida, owns a bed-and-breakfast in Merida and in 1997 joined with partners to buy the 800-acre hacienda near Izamal, 44 miles east of Merida. San Antonio Chalante is still a rustic spot (lacking telephones, staffers communicate with Izamal by radio), but nine individually themed rooms are available for rent.

My fan-cooled room cost $35 for the night. (The one air-conditioned room, known as Nefertiti, fetches $50.)

Dinner is $10 for two, and bottled beer costs 60 cents. I didn't ride any of the owner's horses ($7 an hour), but this is a great place to be if you love horses and enjoy a more rural feeling.

Heberto Valenzuela, son of a prosperous Merida family, has spent holidays at Hacienda Tanil (where I spent my third night) all his life.

The charming, rambling complex, which sits at the fringe of Merida's satellite city, Uman, dates to 1607 and includes a livestock operation with about 300 head of cattle. The Valenzuela family started taking guests last year, charging $50 to $75 nightly each for four guest rooms. All have private baths, and three have air-conditioning.

After being served a a dinner of "panuchos" - tortillas stuffed with beans and topped with shredded beef - the caretaker excused himself. I realized I was alone, captive (since the caretaker locked me in from the outside) and waterless for the night (since he had forgotten to turn on the water).

Like my room in other haciendas, this one had high ceilings, but it was more personal, decorated with knickknacks. From the window is a view of the countryside and the cattle.

Eventually, when the family has finished building four new guest rooms, a full-time innkeeper will run the operation, Valenzuela said. Visitors might prefer to wait until then, or settle for a $15 tour (transportation from Merida included).

Pricey, with peacocks

My last night was at the 26-room Hacienda Temozon, an hour's drive south of Merida.

This hacienda, opened in 1996, is less intimate and more stately than its Grupo Plan sibling San Jose Cholul.

The main buildings are coated in rich red hues, and a second-story dining veranda looks out over a long, pale-blue pool. Peacocks stalk the back lawn, and rough hewn ladders descend into a pair of "cenotes" - caves leading into the vast network of underground rivers that run just beneath the Yucatan's flat plains.

For travelers not interested in paying $315 a night, the good news is that there's lunch. Each of the Grupo Plan haciendas features a relatively affordable restaurant. (Reservations are recommended for non-guests.) Most main courses cost less than $10, and the menus are strong on Yucatan specialties such as "sopa de lima," a broth flavored by lime juice with bits of chicken.

If you go

Where to stay: All rates exclude 17 percent tax and meals, unless noted.

For luxury: Hacienda San Jose Cholul, Hacienda Temozon and Hacienda Santa Rosa (all in Yucatan within 50 miles of Merida), Telephone 800-337-4685 Web: www.ghmhotels.com. Rates $315 nightly and up.

For moderate rates: Rates for Hacienda Tanil's four rooms are $50 to $75, breakfast included, no credit cards. Tel. 011-52-99-25-91-94.

Rates at Hacienda Chichen, tel. 800-624-8451 or 011-52-99-24-21-50 . Web: www.yucatanadventure .com.mx , are $85 nightly. The site, about 75 miles east of Merida, recently expanded to 28 rooms. It has been a lodging since the early 1920s when U.S. archeologists descended on Chichen Itza.

For a tight budget: Rates are $35 to $50, including breakfast (no credit cards), at Hacienda San Antonio Chalante, about 44 miles east of Merida. It is reachable via the Macan Che Bed & Breakfast in Izamal Web: www.macanche.com.

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Exploring the `Mayan Riviera.'

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