San Pablo Macuiltianguis

Macuiltianguis means something like five plazas or five markets in Nahuatl, and the town, at about 2,100 metres in the Sierra Norte, is still divided into five barrios with Zapotec names: Latzi, Raa, Ruilla, Ree and Yoo. Elders say it was founded around 1500 by Zapotecs from Teococuilco (today Marcos Pérez). Rock paintings, tombs and pre-Hispanic clay pieces have turned up in the area; in 1526 the town was granted in encomienda to Cristóbal de Salas.

434 people lived here in 2020, and more than half speak Macuiltianguis Zapotec, a variety of Sierra Juárez Zapotec that linguists have studied. Houses are mostly adobe with two-pitch sheet-metal roofs, and there is a library, water and electricity. The climate is cool and very wet: a mean of 14.5 °C, around 2,300 mm of rain and rainy days nearly all year; January is the coldest month and sub-zero lows have been recorded. The hills around have pine, oak, copal and cedar, and the rivers Comal, Ceniza, Culebra and Grande run down from them.

The festival calendar is what is most worth planning around. On 25 January the town celebrates San Pablo Apóstol, with a calenda floral, wind bands, a fireworks castle, sports and a jaripeo. Carnival, before Lent, is the biggest fiesta: in 2019 it ran from 2 to 5 March, with costumes, floats, the petate bulls and a burning castle. The Assumption on 15 August is also kept, and so is All Saints (late October and early November), with altars, flowers, and tamales and atole shared around. The town's own dance is the Torito Serrano.

The closest neighbours are San Juan Luvina (about 3 km east), Santiago Comaltepec and San Pedro Yólox. From the town lookout you see the houses on the slope and the ranges of the sierra.