Santiago Jamiltepec

Jamiltepec's Mixtec name is Casandoo, explained as "adobe house"; in Nahuatl it is rendered "adobe hill". It is the seat of the municipality and district of the same name, in the west of Oaxaca's Costa Chica, at about 460 metres and in warm country. INEGI recorded 10,387 residents in the locality in 2020, and the population is mostly Indigenous; in the municipality the main Indigenous language is Mixtec.

The origin legend, as Wikipedia tells it: a Mixtec ruler, Casando'o, broke with the king of Tututepec and built temples and houses of stone and adobe; his son Jamilli was carried off by a golden eagle, and the king moved his people to this site and named the kingdom Jamiltepec in the child's memory. The child's remains were said to be found where the church now stands. It is a legend rather than a documented date, but it shows how the town sees itself.

In the centre, facing the Catholic church, the park has two sundials, which the article calls unique on the coast. The church was built by the Dominicans and is considered the town's finest. Gold and silver are mined in the surrounding mountains. Local fiestas fall on 1 January, 15 February and 1 September.

The image most tied to the town in photographs is the torito de lumbre on 12 December, the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe: a frame carried on a dancer's back and loaded with fireworks, spinning among the crowd at night. In the streets you also see Costa Chica flower sellers in white wraparound skirts with baskets of marigolds.