Amixtlán

Amixtlán means "among the clouds" or "place in the mist", from Nahuatl atl, water, and mixtli, cloud, and the name fits: the village runs along a long, narrow ridge that crosses the municipality and tops out at the Pucuxín and Equitán hills, on the side of the Sierra Norte that faces the Gulf of Mexico. Moist air rising from the coast brings rain all year and a warm, humid climate averaging over 22 °C. In 2020 the village had 2,361 residents.

Accounts of its origins differ. The municipal encyclopedia speaks of a settlement of Nahuatl speakers; Wikipedia describes it as part of the old Totonac community of Xochicuauhtitlán, later called Xuxupango. Around 1520 the area was explored by Gonzalo Portero and granted in encomienda to Luis de Ávila; secular priests visited in 1567, though the earliest records of the San José parish are lost. It belonged to the Zacatlán district and became a municipality in 1895.

Within the municipality the land falls from about 1,700 m to 400 m and is cut by the Amixtlán and Nepopualco rivers, which feed the Ajajalpan and then the Tecolutla. Coffee has replaced most of the original forest, which survives only in patches to the south and west. The 16th-century church of San José is the focus of the 19 March feast, with Masses, fireworks and the quetzal, volador, tejedor and huehue dances. Local cooking includes smoked chicken, pressed pork crackling and panela, and fruit wines go by their own names: yolixpa, huiquiño and catorti.