Xmatkuil ends in a week — here’s why you should check it out soon
Far south of the city in Xmatkuil, Yucatán’s state fair will wrap up its 2024 edition on Sunday.
The fairgrounds have everything you would expect from a state fair: food, snacks, livestock exhibits, concerts, and plenty of rides.
Despite its popularity among locals, the fair is poorly attended by Yucatán’s expat community. It’s hard to say why this is because Xmatkuil has much to offer, especially for newcomers.
For one thing, the fair is a great place to get deals on cookware, ceramic plates, and plenty of other necessities for any respectable Mexican kitchen. Also, most items have their prices already labeled, so there is no need for haggling.
Examples of things you can get for a bargain include tortilla makers known locally as mariconeras, large orange juice squeezers, and ceramic pots for preparing refried beans.
When shopping for ceramic cookware, it’s always smart to inspect the bottom for a stamp that says “hecho sin plomo,” which translates as “made without lead.”
Leather goods, especially boots, hats, shoes, and wallets, are also for sale. Just in time for the holidays, when stockings are waiting to be stuffed.
Xmatkuil is also a great place to pick up handcrafted gifts, such as reproductions of Mesoamerican art and religious figurines and hand-stitched linen tablecloths and clothing.
For those with a green thumb, the fair is also an excellent place to pick up saplings or seeds of a variety of flowers, chilies, and fruit trees. This is especially true when it comes to seeds as the varieties for sale are of local species that do well in Yucatán’s hot and humid weather; none of those grocery store carrots that never germinate.
The fair selection of fruit trees for sale is also very interesting because it includes rare species that are not commercially viable and are dying out. A great example is the limon dulce — a grapefruit-sized citrus that, despite its name, tastes more like an orange.
A word to the wise: unless you have been living in Yucatán for a while (and really, even if you have been here for years), it’s a good idea to be cautious with what you eat at the fair, as viral photos making the rounds on social media demonstrate, not all food stalls have the same hygiene standard.
The fair opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m., but Xmatkuil’s concert grounds remain open until 2 or 3 a.m.
For shopping, the best time to arrive is at roughly 10:30, as by that time, most stalls are open, but the fair is not yet overflowing with people.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a Mexican expedition/Canadian photographer and adventure leader. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds multimedia, philosophy, and translation degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada and Norway.
