The Magic of Espita and the Charm of its People

Recently named a Magical Town (or Pueblo Magico), Espita is gradually turning a page from relative obscurity to becoming a Yucatán tourism hotspot. 

The tiny community is on its way to being more tourism-friendly, with a new yet nearly deserted tourism kiosk and a handful of spots to take selfies. 

Another thing Espita has going for it is that because of its tiny size, it’s extremely walkable and quite clean.

The Magic of Espita

When arriving in town, one is greeted by a plethora of old-style Mayan homes, simple brick dwellings and businesses, along with a couple of small but neatly tended-to parks. 

The main plaza, however, is another story, with its lovely Franciscan church lined with palm trees, a tiny but welcoming market, a gazebo-adorned plaza, and city hall. But unlike most towns in Yucatán, these landmarks are distributed along a straight line of sight, instead of in the typical pattern surrounded around a main park or plaza. 

Espita’s main church, dedicated to Saint Joseph, is quite typical of the area, with a central nave and two towers with three niches each. It is clearly lovingly maintained and is worth a visit. 

City Hall and its adjacent park are very welcoming, especially in the evenings when vendors gather around the gazebo to sell Yucatecan snacks, including Queso Napolitano (a variety of flan), sandwichon (a type of layered cheese or pate sandwich), and of course esquites, cups full of corn kernels, cream, cheese and just about any topping you can imagine, even bone marrow. 

Though the town’s main market was last remodeled in the year 2000, its facilities are in extremely good shape and full of good stalls, fruit vendors, and butchers.

The town’s market also affords visitors opportunities to interact with Espita’s locals, who are overall talkative and friendly — you can tell they are not used to seeing tourists, at least not yet. 

Just outside the market, there are a couple of loncherias (tiny informal restaurants), including “La Guadalupana” run by the Patrón Rosado sisters, María de la Cruz and Nelsy Noemi.

The sisters cook up typical regional dishes such as lomitos and relleno blanco every day and are fond of cracking jokes. When asked what they think about Espita’s new status as a Pueblo Magico, the answer was basically the same: “It’s always been magical. We don’t need the government to tell us that.” 

This sense of love for their town was echoed everywhere, including the home of the Acereto Triai family that opened their doors for a brief photoshoot. 

Another curious landmark in Espita is a small obelisk that serves as a roundabout just to the side of Saint Joseph’s church. Known as “Los Quince Grandes de Espita” or the “Fifteen Greats of Espita.” 

The monument, on which is engraved the names of 15 men on one side, commemorates a battle in which a group of indigenous Maya attempted to capture the town in 1850. However, the “invaders” were repelled by the efforts of these local men, among them teenagers and old men. 

It is difficult to hear this story of “barbarians at the gates” without the suspicion that this is only half the story. 

Like anywhere in Yucatán, or México for that matter, there is in Espita a clear social demarcation between its white, mestizo, and indigenous population, the latter of which live in modest dwellings while many of the former appear to be considerably better off materially. 

In the Yucatec Mayan language, Espita means “the place of little water.” Though nowadays the community has running water, it used to rely heavily on communal wells and chultunes (artificial water reservoirs), much in the way the ancient Maya did.

Although Espita is chock-full of beautiful old colonial homes, many of these appear to have been long abandoned, as their owners have moved to larger communities including Valladolid, Izamal, and Mérida. 

Though the community of foreigners in Espita is still relatively small, it appears to be growing at a considerable pace, with small groups of Europeans, Americans, and Canadians already calling it home. 

Despite being so small, Espita has a surprisingly active sports and art scene, supported by the city government and the town’s Casa de la Cultura.

There are a great many properties for sale in Espita, and according to locals, prices have already begun to increase, given the opening of new amenities such as boutique hotels and the presence of foreigners.

If you go

Buses run from cities like Mérida and Valladolid to Espita at regular intervals, but driving is by far the fastest and most hassle-free way of visiting, as no first class busses are available, which means you will be stopping in every single town. 

One thing to keep in mind when visiting Espita is the importance of bringing along coins and smaller denomination bills, as most shops won’t be able to make change for a 500-peso bill or sometimes even a 200. The town has a single ATM, but it is best not to rely on it too heavily as it apparently is often out of order. 

The main downside with Espita is that there are not many “middle of the road” options, which means you will either be spending the night in either a very spartan room for a few hundred pesos or a boutique hotel for thousands. The same applies to eating out. 

Espita is a great hub to explore the Yucatán thanks to its proximity to other towns, including Izamal and Valladolid, as well as several archaeological sites, especially Ek-Balam and Chichén Itzá.