This is the first of many pictures dedicated to this Hacienda called Ochil, this hacienda were dedicated to explote the henequen fiber, that in the XIX century, were called the green gold. In the picture you can see the main entrance, and a rail road used to transport the fiber.
I love this photo for reasons of superb technique, composition (really really excellent composition!) and because the subject is close to my heart. i have a book about Columbia?s haciendas and used it to design and build one house and am now starting my second. i also have a book about the Carribean plantations and i am fascinated how early colonists settled these new lands and brought their cultures with them, Spanish, French, English and Portugese. Most specifically, i am interested in how these cultural elements influenced their architecture and how colonists combined the materials, climate conditions and production of what must have been strange crops (such as sugar cane) with the cultural influences of the old country. i was especially amused by one photo of a plantation home in the Carribbean, where they actually built a fireplace in a bedroom, not realizing, or not accepting that they were far, far from anything called cold weather. i often wondered if the Mistress of the house demanded the fireplace to make her feel like she was back home in Europe.
In this photo you depict three important elements, the need for security, an impressive welcome entrance (that persists today in Latin American archtecture) and the importance of transporting the cash crop around which the entire hacienda, and it?s associated pueblito derived its income.
For anyone who wishes to know more about the haciendas in the region of Ochal, here?s a link, but it?s in Spanish...
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