Santiago Quiotepec

Quiotepec, from Nahuatl "on the hill of the agave stalks", lies at 551 m in the Cañada de Cuicatlán, inside the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, and belongs to the municipality of San Juan Bautista Cuicatlán. Santiago the Greater is its patron. The 2020 census counted 150 people; it peaked at 439 in 1960. For decades the village was linked by railway, and it fell very quiet when trains stopped running in 2000.

In the area is the Quiotepec archaeological zone, with several building groups and a ball court. The earthquake of 7 September 2017 damaged the platform of Conjunto 4, the east wall of Conjunto 3 and the southeast corner and east wall of the ball court (Conjunto 5); INAH finished restoration in May 2019. Also close is Cerro Viejo, an old Zapotec fortress reached from the village; from 1977 Spencer and Redmond of the American Museum of Natural History studied the Cañada's archaeology to test whether Monte Albán had conquered it.

Quiotepec is listed among Cuicatlán's ecotourism spots, along with San José Chilar and Santa María Tecomavaca. There is a river, stretches of the old railway line to hike and dry tropical forest. It is a very small village and no hotels are reported; bring water and a hat.