The Villas features a full separate kitchen building and outdoor grill. This lovely food and serving area has a poolside patio for enjoying meals together. The private pool, is perfect for cooling off on warm tropical days, luxuriating in the sunshine. Also ideal for water healings.
You will have access to our sister property of Rancho San Agustin. The ranch itself dates back 300 years to the days of the great Mexican haciendas, and before that, it was farmed by the ancient pyramid-building Maya. Here they grew the surplus food to feed the kings, priests and construction workers. Today it is a working organic farm. You can gather your own organically grown eggs from free-range chickens, and pick your own avocados, limes, watermelons, bananas, dragonfruits, mangos, and oranges depending on the season. You can also go for horseback rides on the forest trails.
Here at the Coyote Místico, we offer privacy and tranquility, but if you want to check out the art scene, trendy restaurants, upscale malls, or the night life, Mérida is only about an hour and ten minutes away. So go for it. Try the exotic restaurants, visit the museums, hear the music blast, and dance in the streets. Then come back to recover in the serenity of the Coyote Místico. Truly, here you can have it all.
Nature in the Tropical Forests.
Coyote Místico is surround by the Yucatán forests. When you walk through the gardens and trails you will be greeted by the small lizards that make their home here. We are at the edge of a vast tropical forest stretching for hundreds of kilometers. Yucatán squirrels, agouti, opossums, foxes, iguanas, deer, armadillos, and other forest creatures are known to wander through the grounds.
The buildings may have several resident geckos. These are harmless lizards, they eat bugs, and are fascinating to watch. You can pause to wonder how they can scamper across the ceiling. They actually use bio-chemical bonding on their toes to attach themselves to the surface. Just consider them to be your room’s unofficial mascot.
And then there are the bugs. Because we are in the midst of a tropical forest, both we and the town are vigilant about spraying for mosquitos, but nature lovers and entomologists can discover some interesting creatures found nowhere else in the world. In the mid summer we are on the butterfly migration path. Watching the flocks of yellow, white and orange swirl around can be a fascinating experience, but our favorite insects are the ancient dragonflies that love to hover over the pool.
Those of you who come during the rains can experience the strange and wonderful sounds of the Yucatán frogs at night. You can marvel at the variety and volume of sound that these small amphibians can make. During the rain ceremonies, the small boys will squat and make frog noises to bring on the rains.
Since the collapse of the ancient great Maya city states, the historic rural Maya would have a house in the village with a vegetable garden and a yard to raise turkeys, chickens, and pigs at home. They would also have a cornfield or two outside of town and supplement their diet by hunting wild game. These times are not gone. These traditions are alive and well in Santa Elena, Yucatan, Mexico.
If you stroll into the town, you will hear the sounds of roosters, turkeys, and even livestock. Perhaps you will see the local vaqueros riding their horses or the ladies balancing their tortilla masa on their heads. You are witnessing a part of the traditional rural Maya lifestyle.
Almost all of the people in the village are Maya and many are living on the land where their great grandfathers lived. They are proud of their village and are happy to meet you. Very few speak English, but those who do love to practice it with visitors. Most of the shopkeepers can speak Spanish, but some citizens here only speak Mayan.
The church is well over three hundred years old and is a fine example of Mission Architecture. Next to the church is a small museum where you can see the mummies and learn some of the history of the town.
In the early 1840’s the town was called Noh Ka Kab and was a base of operations for the fabled explorer and travel writer John Lloyd Stevens. His book Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan has some detailed accounts of the Maya culture at that time. We can show you the room where he and his illustrator Frederic Catherwood stayed in Santa Elena during their epic explorations.
In 1849 the village of Santa Elena was burned to the ground during the intense fighting during the Caste Wars. Some of the locals can point out the bullet holes in the buildings of the town plaza. If the church is open, if you are in good shape, fearless, and have a flashlight, you can climb up the ancient spiral stairs to the top of the church where the Maya sentries posted themselves to look for enemy invaders.
In 1865 Santa Elena was one of the two areas settled by German colonists brought into Yucatán during the brief reign of Emperor Maximilian I. Without outside support or any familiarity with the local agriculture, the colony itself did not last long but a number of the Maya in Santa Elena today have blue eyes or German last names.
The people of Santa Elena love their holidays, and on national holidays and special saint’s days, you can hear the musicians and follow their parades through the streets. The evening celebrations are almost always accompanied by singing, music, and shooting off of rockets or fireworks.
If you time your visit to join in the celebrations, they are glad to welcome you to participate in the festivals.
January
The Annual Fair (fireworks) celebrating San Antonio, the patron saint of the city starts on the first or second Monday and lasts for two weeks.
February / March
Carnaval date depends on when Easter falls that year.
May
Bullfights start on the Friday closest to the 10th of May.
August
Bullfights start on a Friday before the 14th of May.
August 6
Procession of the harvest. (Religious)
September 16
Independence Day Parade.
October 31 Day of the Dead (children)
November 1 Day of the Dead (adults)
November 20
Parade of the Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.
December 7 evening
the Virgen Consepcion, (fireworks) Religious.
December 11
Virgen de Guadalupe.( fireworks). Religious.
December 24 evening
Baby Jesus (fireworks) Religious.
Long Term Residence
If you are looking for somewhere quiet to live for a month or three, this would be a perfect place to stay. We are far from the cities and big tourist areas, close enough to local services, and elegant enough for you to live, work or relax in comfort. We are one hour and ten minutes from the airport of Mérida, Yucatan.
Here you can sun yourself during the day. Or lie down and watch the stars and meteor showers on the dark cloudless nights.
Our carefully tended gardens are a blend of local species and tropical exotics from across the planet. We are working on expanding our use of local plants used in traditional Maya healings.
The Coyote Místico features a private pool, perfect for cooling off on warm tropical days, or emerging yourself for water healings.
The organic farm.
You will have access to our sister property of Rancho San Agustin. The ranch itself dates back 300 years to the days of the great Mexican haciendas, and before that it was farmed by the ancient pyramid building Maya. Here they grew the surplus food to feed the kings, priests, craftsmen, and construction builders. Today it is a working organic farm. You can gather your own organically grown eggs from free range chickens, pick your own avocados, limes, watermelons, bananas, dragonfruits, mangos, and oranges depending on the season. You can also go for horseback rides in the forest trails.
