Hueypoxtla

Villa de San Bartolomé Hueypoxtla is the seat of the municipality of Hueypoxtla, in the north of the State of Mexico, next to Tequixquiac and Tlapanaloya, on the bank of the Río Salado at the foot of the Loma Larga. It had 3,989 inhabitants in 2010. The Nahuatl name is explained as place of great merchants: before the conquest it was the capital of a Tepanec province and a collection point for tribute bound for Tenochtitlan. In viceregal times it lay in the Lomas de España, where vineyards were planted.

The historic centre is what you visit. The parish of San Bartolomé, baroque and part of the Diocese of Cuautitlán, was consecrated in 1593; in 1934 crypts with 72 tombs were found under its floor, which locals call the Santo Entierro, and legends of tunnels grew from it. Around it are arcades, the Palacio Municipal, the Casa de los Padres and a colonial bridge over the Río Salado linking Santa María Cuevas and Tlapanaloya. On the old royal road toward Ajacuba stands the Hacienda Casa Blanca, with a European look, and La Chimenea is also listed.

The food is lamb barbacoa, ximbó, tamales and pulque. The main patron-saint fiestas are San Bartolomé and the Santo Entierro; we found no dates. In the municipality, Cerro del Picacho (2,820 m) is the high point and the Luis Espinoza de los Monteros dam was built between 1902 and 1910.