This characteristic house has a blue door, which was constructed around one century ago by the father of the current owner, and has the traditional mamposteria white walls with a smooth finish, or “acabado”, and a traditional stone wall surrounding the property. Behind the main house, there is another structure that appears to have been used as a chicken coop at one time, but actually had once been used as a spare room where the family rented hammock space for visitors who had come to enjoy the community events that still occur throughout the year in Chicxulub Pueblo, such as the Corrida de Toros and the Vaqueria Dance at each Fiesta del pueblo: Reconocimiento de la Candelaria in February, La Fiesta de Santa Cruz in May, and other annual community gatherings and celebrations.
These days, the owner of the house is Doña Maria Socorro and she lives in the concrete constructed small-home on the property. Doña Soco grew up in this home with her brothers and sisters who still live nearby. Though Doña Soco is an independent person who loves the traditional home her father built, she has been unable to maintain the traditional roof on her own. The truth here, which is quite common throughout the peninsula, younger generations in the family prefer the comforts of a modern home with cement block construction, which require little to no maintenance and can better withstand the rainy season and the hurricane that will eventually touch down here again.
Since 2021, when we first interviewed Doña Soco, the house has suffered significant damage to the roof due to a lack of maintenance. Many huano leaves have become brittle, while the majority of them have fallen in the house to expose the wood structure below, which has also begun to deteriorate. The north side of the home has also started to fall-in due to years of strong winds and heavy rainfall during the monsoon season and super dry conditions the rest of the year, leaving the home open and exposed to the elements allowing even more rainwater to come in and further ruin the roof structure of natural materials. However, because the walls and doors can withstand far more than its roof, this home can still be rescued with help from people like you and I.