Santa María Colotepec

Colotepec is the inland town that gives its name to the municipality where Zicatela, Puerto Escondido's famous surf beach, lies. The seat is small (1,539 people in 2020, at 48 m above sea level), while the coast holds the crowds: Brisas de Zicatela has 10,632 and the whole municipality adds up to more than 27,000 people in 68 localities, across about 416 km² between the Pacific and the sierra.

Its documented history starts with a land title of 1714, which the community counts as its founding; before that the Zapotec speakers of the area were subject to the Mixtecs of Tututepec. The boundaries were fixed in 1715 with eleven boundary stones, and every 5 May the comuneros, about 2,000 of them, walk and clear the line. One stone stands in the old cemetery by the Puerto Escondido lighthouse, on the western edge. The old church went up in 1880 and is being restored. Saint's-day fiestas usually run three or four days, with fireworks, a castillo, a jaripeo rodeo and cockfights.

The landscape is low forest (more than half the territory), farming on a third, some mangrove and dunes, and rivers crossing the municipality: Colotepec, Valdeflores, Aguacate, Corozal and more. It is hot all year (24 to 28 °C) with 800 to 2,000 mm of rain, mostly in summer, and floods in the rainy season. The town council is chosen by customary law and changes every three years.