San Isidro Roaguía

San Isidro Roaguía is a small village of about 450 people (2020 census) in the dry hills east of Mitla, at roughly 1,800 m. It belongs to the municipality of San Lorenzo Albarradas, in the Tlacolula district, and has the status of an agencia de policía. Its houses stand right above Hierve el Agua, the white mineral 'petrified waterfalls' that are one of Oaxaca's most visited natural sites, some 70 km east of Oaxaca city. The name is Zapotec in origin.

Roaguía's life is bound up with the site. Spring water rich in calcium carbonate has built two travertine shelves on the cliffs: the cascada chica, about 12 m tall, and the cascada grande, about 30 m. Above them, springs feed natural pools and two artificial ones, the lower built in 2007, with water at 22–27 °C. The plateau also holds traces of Zapotec irrigation canals that may be as much as 2,500 years old. Roaguía's families own the cabin and pool complex and many of the food and craft stalls, and the community administers the site's entrance.

That role has not been easy. Revenue and control of Hierve el Agua have long been disputed between Roaguía and the municipal seat of San Lorenzo Albarradas, which controls the access road. The quarrel closed the site from 2005 to 2007, and it was shut again for about 19 months around 2020 and 2021, through the pandemic and a fresh flare-up of the dispute. Visitors pass a second checkpoint on the road, and the site can still close at short notice. Most come for the pools and the views over the canyons; the larger pool by the cascada grande is about a 10-minute walk from the main terrace and much quieter.