Atlequizayan

Atlequizayan is the seat of a tiny municipality: just 12.5 km², one of the smallest in Puebla. The village sits at about 820 m on the side of the Sierra Norte that drops towards the Gulf, between Caxhuacan, Jonotla, Zoquiapan and Ixtepec. In 2020 it had 1,501 residents.

Its Nahuatl name translates as "where water comes out", which fits: rain falls almost all year, 2,400 to 2,600 mm annually, with average temperatures of 18 to 22 °C. The only permanent river is the Zempoala, which runs about 200 m from the centre and further on joins the Apulco, a tributary of the Tecolutla. The original forest gave way long ago to coffee groves and rain-fed maize fields.

The municipal history says the first settlers came from El Tajín and that, although the Texcocans conquered them in the 15th century, they kept their customs. The municipality was created on 13 April 1935; its only junta auxiliar is Ignacio Allende, 1.6 km away on a dirt road.

Life centres on the 16th-century parish of San Miguel Arcángel, whose saint is honoured twice, on 8 May and 29 September, with Masses, food stalls and dancing. Public works are still done by faena, unpaid communal labour owed by every resident. Huapangos and sones are the local music, and some women still wear the black wrap skirt, white blouse and sash. About 500 m from the centre are caves that have never been properly explored.