An 'amateur' photographer and I took the route that goes from the formerly wealthy town of Maxcanu to the hacienda Chunchucmil where president and authoritarian Mexican de facto dictator Porfirio Diaz had a pleasant lunch hosted by one of the most prominent hacienda owners of the time and intimate friend of then governor Olegario Molina, Rafael Peón Loza.
An interesting note is that of all the money spent on the dictators 1906 visit to Yucatan, and of all the important people who came to attend the event, the whole Mayan thing was completely ignored, except to acknowledge their presence in pre-colonial times.
To introduce the Mayans, who knew little about the dictator of the faraway land called Mexico, to their illustrious leader, a neo-mayan arch was built, one of many under which Porfirio Diaz' procession would pass while entering the city of Merida. The neo-mayan arch featured the rain god Chaac, but whose face was made to resemble that of Porfirio Diaz. And at the luncheon in the Chunchucmil hacienda, a Mayan was called upon to welcome the dictator and express his gratitude for coming to the Yucatan and giving the Mayans of the area the opportunity to set their eyes upon his face. (De la imagen, al poder y la vanidad. Porfirio Díaz en la tierra de los Mayas - 1906. Dr. Jorge Victoria Ojeda)
This at a time when the Mayans were working in slave-like conditions at the haciendas/slave camps run by Molina, Peon and others who made their fabulous fortunes (which live on to this day in Merida thank you very much) on the whipped backs of the little brown people whose lives they have done nothing to improve (also to this day).
