Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón

Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón sits in the far north of Oaxaca, almost on the Puebla line, inside the Sierra Mazateca. The town lies at about 1,345 metres, among steep hills of wet cloud forest; local climate records show around 2,000 mm of rain a year and an average temperature near 18 °C, so expect mist and showers in almost any month.

It used to be called San Antonio Eloxochitlán. Franciscans settled the site around 1827, and it was the first town in the region founded by people from outside the Mazatec world. In 1967 a state decree renamed it after Ricardo Flores Magón, the journalist and anarchist of the Mexican Revolution who was born here on 16 September 1873. The municipality belongs to the Teotitlán district and is governed by usos y costumbres.

In 2020 the town had 901 residents, and more than nine in ten identify as Indigenous; the everyday language across the municipality is Tecóatl Mazatec. The patron saint's fiesta is on 13 June, the day of Saint Anthony of Padua, and on 1 and 2 November the huehuentones dance is performed, a Day of the Dead tradition of the Mazatec region.

This is not a tourist-infrastructure destination: no hotels or restaurants are documented, so most people visit as a day trip from Huautla de Jiménez, which has lodging and food. Other communities of the municipality surround it, such as Agua Ancha, Agua Colorada, El Maguey and La Tranca. Our information on local transport schedules is limited; ask in Huautla before setting out.