Yesterday, our colleague, Martha Maria Tec Cemé, who works in the cleaning department at the Chichén Itzá stopover, found a Xiaomi cellphone while she was working. As she has always done, she returned it to its owner, Adayeli Ramirez Moren, who was visiting us from Mexico City.

 In Mérida, Yucatán, on April 23, 2024, Cultur received two new works of art made from cigarette butts collected at the "El Corchito" stopover and the Meteorite Museum, both spaces located in Progreso and managed by this department.

As reported, on December 20, 2023, the general director of Cultur delivered 5,2575 cigarette butts to architect Miranda Jacqueline Escalante Moguel to transform them into two works of art, specifically into paintings that are now a reality.

With these two new artistic pieces, Cultur now has four thanks to an equal number of "colillatones" held not only at the aforementioned locations but also at the Yucatán Siglo XXI Convention and Exhibition Center - including its cinemas - and at the Chichén Itzá stopover.

In all cases, at each of the aforementioned sites, the department has already obtained the respective recognitions as "100% Smoke-Free and Emission-Free Spaces."

Mauricio Díaz Montalvo, general director of Cultur expressed his gratitude for Miranda's very professional work, as her artwork serves as an iconic record of the effort made by Cultur's staff as a contribution to decontaminating the mentioned service units from cigarette butts. He also thanked the Yucatán Health Services (SSY) for granting Cultur the mentioned recognitions.

As reported, Cultur initiated actions to obtain recognition as "100% Smoke-Free and Emission-Free Spaces" in several of the spaces it manages. The first was in May 2022 at the Yucatán Siglo XXI Convention Center, collecting 12,9000 butts. The second was in September of that same year at the Chichén Itzá stopover with 5,125 residues. The third was in August 2023 at the Meteorite Museum and the fourth in early November 2023 with 1,525 waste. In total, Cultur collected 23,300 cigarette butts, most of which are now works of art.

Mérida, Yucatán, on April 19, 2024, employees of Cultur working at the Chichén and Dzibilchaltún visitor centers, as well as at the Siglo XXI Convention Center, found 12 lost items and, in an act of honesty, returned them to their rightful owners.

The tourists who were delighted by the workers' honesty, mainly janitors, administrators, and security personnel, are from Italy, the USA, Peru, as well as Mexico City and Mérida. To give an idea of the cost represented by this action, out of the 12 found and returned objects, eight were cell phones (six of which were iPhones), a wallet with money, car keys, a bag with various valuable belongings, and a mobile radio.

The honest employees involved were: Martha María Tec Cemé, Nancy Floricely Cab Cobá, Blanca Kinil, Santiago Tun Yam, Sebastián Cahum Dzib, and Alejo Chan Ay, all of them workers in the janitorial area at the Chichén Itzá visitor center. Also involved were María Belen del Rosario Ku Canul, an administrative assistant at Dzibilchaltún, and Viviana Cetina Kituk from the marketing department at Cultur's central offices.

The returns occurred as follows: four in January, one in February, and seven more in March.

Mérida, Yucatán, April 9, 2024. At the end of the Easter holidays, which ran from March 23 to April 7 (16 days), according to official reports from Culture, in the sites where it has a presence, a total of 213,075 tourists, including locals, nationals, and foreigners, were received.

Out of that figure, 134,700 were visitors who were at Chichén Itzá, which once again reaffirms itself as the quintessential tourist spot in Yucatán. This figure represents 63% of the grand total.

This means that on average Chichén had 8,419 visitors each day during the mentioned period. The lowest turnout was on March 23 with 5,085 and the highest of 13,698 occurred on March 31.

On this occasion, the second most visited site was Uxmal with 18,483 visitors accounting for a distant 9% of the total, followed by the "Picheta" Passage which welcomed 17,473 people (8%).

In fourth place of the top 5 was the archaeological site of "El Corchito", located in Progreso, with a record of 8,209 visitors (4%). And in fifth place was the archaeological site of Ek Balam, which reported an entry of 8,044 customers (4%).

Among all other tourist sites such as Zací Market, Meteorite Museum, Manzanero House Museum, as well as the stops in Celestún, Chocholá and Halachó, received 26,166 visitors (12% of the total).

It is worth noting that due to various reasons there are several tourist sites that are closed to the public such as Dzibilchaltún temporarily and others that have been closed since 2023 like Lol Tún caves, Balancanché archaeological site and Uaymitún viewpoint.

It should also be remembered that the Dzitnup stop where the X´Kekén and Samulá cenotes are located was leased to a private individual last year; therefore it is no longer part of Culture's statistics.