Zací was a Maya city in the east of the Yucatán peninsula whose name means “white hawk.” Two rival families competed for power there: the Cupules — the family of the cacique and his son Hul-Kin — and the Cocomes, protectors of the healer and her granddaughter Sac-Nicté. The rivalry between the two families is what made the lovers’ romance impossible.

On the site of Zací the Spanish later founded the city of Valladolid, Yucatán, which still surrounds the famous cenote today.