San Andrés Zautla

The reason to come to San Andrés Zautla is inside its church: a small table organ dated 1726, with a painted and gilded case, documented by Oaxaca's Institute of Historic Organs (IOHIO). The date was found in the year 2000, written on the central facade pipe. Every panel of the case carries a saint or archangel: Peter, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel and Andrew, the town's patron. By the time restoration began in the 1990s, the town's elders no longer remembered what it sounded like. The case was restored in 1991-1993 and the instrument itself in 1996-1997, paid for by Fomento Social Banamex and the community, and it is played again today.

IOHIO dates the church to the 17th century (English Wikipedia says 16th). It stands in the middle of the municipal seat, at about 1,640 metres above sea level. Zautla is the cabecera of its own municipality in the Etla district. In colonial times it fell under Huexolotitlan, according to Peter Gerhard's historical geography, and the municipal archive holds papers from 1583 onward, with roots reaching back to pre-Hispanic times.

The 2020 census counted 1,856 people in the town, about the same as in 2010 (1,852); there were 1,393 in 1950 and the figure dipped to 1,222 in 1980. The whole municipality, only 21.7 square kilometres, had 5,326 residents in 2020, up 20.9% in ten years. It is a quiet town, best treated as a short stop from the city of Oaxaca, about 20 km away in a straight line.