Buenos Aires

Nothing to do with Argentina: this Sierra Norte village takes its name from its patroness, Our Lady of Good Air (Nuestra Señora del Buen Aire). Buenos Aires had 1,584 residents in 2020 and lies at just 565 m, about 13 km north-east of Jopala and some 6 km west of Chicontla, the municipality's largest town. In a straight line it is 17 km from Zozocolco, across the line in Veracruz, 52 km from Poza Rica and 133 km from the city of Puebla.

Jopala, "green place" by its Nahuatl etymology, covers about 165 km² and has been Totonac and Nahua land since before the Conquest, which reached it in 1522; it became a free municipality in 1895. It borders Zihuateutla, Tlaola, Tlapacoya, Hermenegildo Galeana, San Felipe Tepatlán and Olintla, and to the east Filomeno Mata and Mecatlán in Veracruz. Its water feeds the Tecolutla river through two branches: a little over half the territory drains to the Necaxa and the rest to the Laxaxalpan. The climate is semi-warm and humid, with rain in every month and averages of 18 to 26 °C; six hectares in ten are farmed and nearly a third is pasture.

Tutunakú is spoken in the municipality alongside Spanish. The great celebration is the fair of the Virgin of the Assumption in the seat, from 12 to 22 August, with the dances of the Negritos, Toreadores, Malinches, San Miguel, Españoles and the Wewes, also called tejoneros; the 16th-century parish church of the Assumption stands there too. Potters work local clay, and the table offers mole poblano, pipián, tamales and pressed pork crackling, with coffee, chocolate, atole and refino, the local aguardiente.