Metepec

Metepec is a locality in the municipality of Ocuituco, in northeast Morelos, and is not the State of Mexico's Metepec, famous for its clay. The name comes from Nahuatl metl, maguey, and tepetl, hill: hill of the magueys. In 2020 it had 2,942 residents (2,581 in 2010), making it the municipality's third-largest locality after Ocuituco and Jumiltepec. It sits at about 2,057 m on the slopes of Popocatépetl.

Small hills surround the village: the Metepeczin, 2,137 m, about 800 m to the east, and the Calabazo, 2,170 m, less than 2 km south. At this height the climate is temperate and damp: 17 °C on average, January the coldest month and April the warmest, and about 1,450 mm of rain a year, with September the wettest, based on 1970 to 2025 data. The municipality reckons that over 70% of its economy is agricultural, chiefly corn, peaches and avocados.

About 3 km to the north is Ocuituco, the seat, with its Santiago Apóstol church and ex-convent, one of the 16th-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl named a World Heritage site in 1994; 2 km to the southwest lies Tetela del Volcán. The earthquake of 19 September 2017 destroyed 529 homes in the municipality and damaged another 511. There is no registered lodging in Metepec: the nearest hotels are in Ocuituco and 1 to 2 km to the northeast. We found no source describing the village's patron saint fiesta, so we leave it out.