Ayotla

Almost one in two residents of Xochiltepec municipality lives in Ayotla: 1,509 of 3,375 in 2020, more than in the seat itself, San Felipe. The town has grown slowly, from 1,344 people in 2000, and at the latest census women (808) clearly outnumbered men (701). Its Nahuatl name, from ayotl, squash, and tlan, place of abundance, means "place where squash abounds", and squash is still among the local crops along with maize, beans, peanuts, green beans, tomatillo, tomato and sorghum. From above you see a compact cluster of houses with green irrigated plots to the west and wooded hills to the east, at 1,379 metres, some 27 km in a straight line south of Atlixco.

The municipality's history begins, by its own tradition, in 1442, when a group from Itzocán, today's Izúcar, settled on the south shore of a lagoon; over time its three neighbourhoods merged as San Felipe Xochiltepec de la Laguna. The lordship paid tribute to Tenochtitlan, and after the conquest it was granted in encomienda to Juan de Morales and served by Dominican friars from Izúcar. It has been a free municipality since 1895. Xochiltepec, "on the hill of flowers", covers under 47 km² and all its water drains to the Nexapa River and on to the Atoyac.

Heat rules: average highs reach 32 to 34 °C and most of the land has a warm climate with summer rain. Six in ten hectares are still low forest, with some cattail marsh in wet spots. The San Felipe Xochiltepec lagoon is a few minutes from the municipal seat. Potters in the municipality make clay pots, casseroles and planters, and maize husks are prepared for tamales; kitchens turn out huaxmole, adobo, chicken chileatole, mole, pipián and pan criollo. The civic dates people turn out for are 5 May and 15 and 16 September, with a school parade, a queen and princesses.