Amozoc de Mota

Amozoc de Mota is the seat of the municipality of Amozoc, 18 km east of Puebla city and part of its metropolitan area. It sits at about 2,330 m in the valley between the Sierra de Amozoc and the southern slopes of La Malinche. The town was founded in 1559 exactly halfway between Tepeaca and what was then the town of Puebla de los Ángeles, and the Franciscans built the church and convent of San Francisco de Asís that still stand. The "de Mota" honours José Mariano Mota, a liberal shot together with the local political chief Ambrosio Huerta after defending Tecali on 25 August 1861. The municipality had 100,964 people in 2010.

Amozoc is known across Mexico for its ironwork for charrería, Mexican horsemanship: spurs, bits, saddle trees and steel fittings inlaid with silver and gold. Silversmiths also make earrings, bracelets, rings and buckles, and the town sells talavera, pottery and Christmas figures of clay and plaster.

The municipality spans three landscapes: to the north the lower slopes of La Malinche, with patches of pine-oak forest that belong to Malintzin National Park; in the middle the Tepeaca valley; and to the south the Sierra de Amozoc, a line of hills with oak and juniper running from Cerro de Tepoxúchitl, near Puebla, to Cerro de la Cruz at Tepeaca. Some 200 bird species have been recorded.