El Espinal

El Espinal, Guidxi Guichi in Zapotec ("place of thorns"), is a town of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec right next to Juchitán de Zaragoza. It lies on the eastern bank of a river that rises in the foothills of Cerro Picacho and empties into the Gulf of Tehuantepec, at about 14 to 28 m above sea level (sources differ). According to Wikipedia, settlement dates from the late 17th century; an 1883 record describes "Espinal Santa Cruz" as an estate with titles from 1590, and the church keeps papers from a 1572 land grant. The town grew out of the farming and ranching of the Santa Cruz hacienda.

The 2020 census counted 8,730 inhabitants (4,239 men and 4,491 women) and 2,584 inhabited dwellings. Farming is no longer the main activity: many residents are workers, professionals or artisans. Zapotec culture and language have lost ground among the young, but women still wear the tehuana dress at fiestas and men the white guayabera with dark trousers.

The best reason to visit is the calendar. In May there are three candle festivals: Primavera (green), San Juan (yellow) and San Mateo (purple). In July the mayordomías make the "labrada de cera" for the mass on 12 October. The main fiesta is in November for the Virgen del Rosario, the town's patroness: it runs three days, usually in the third week, and opens on Friday night with a calenda; it includes jaripeo, the Tuesday fruit-throwing parade and the Wednesday "lavada de ollas". The main church is the Virgen del Rosario.