Teopisca

Teopisca is the seat of its own municipality in the Altos, the central highlands of Chiapas, at about 1,800 metres. It straddles the Pan-American Highway halfway between San Cristóbal de Las Casas and Comitán, and has almost grown into Amatenango del Valle, the pottery village next door. The 2020 census counted 20,044 people in the town. The municipality covers 174 km², bordered by San Cristóbal to the north, Huixtán and Amatenango to the east, Venustiano Carranza to the south and Totolapa to the west, and many of its people are Tzeltal Maya.

The name is Nahuatl and is translated either as "god of the harvest" or "house of the red lord". Local tradition places the first settlement, Ostuta, on the hills of Mispia and Chenecultie, abandoned for a site further north after an epidemic; another account blames a plague of ants in 1732 and puts the old village near the former cemetery. In colonial times Teopisca answered to the Alcaldía Mayor of Ciudad Real. In 1831 the town was allowed to charge a toll on its causeway to pay for repairs, and in 1883 it became part of the San Cristóbal department.

The main square is dominated by the 18th-century church of San Agustín, Dominican in origin, with a whitewashed front framed in red arches, a three-bell gable and a well-regarded altarpiece. The municipal market is a seven-minute walk from the square and the best place to eat; the highland cooking here is known for its cecina (thin dried beef). Two peaks watch over the town, Cerro del Tecolote and Cerro Pelón, both wrapped in local legends, and limestone caves open just outside town.