Chicontla

On the floor of the Necaxa River valley people speak a distinct variety of Totonac known as Upper Necaxa Totonac, and Chicontla is one of its four villages, along with Patla, Cacahuatlán and San Pedro Tlaolantongo. The language is seriously endangered: Spanish rules government, trade and public life, few people under forty use Totonac with ease and children grow up speaking only Spanish. Speakers, however, can still tell which village someone comes from by their pronunciation and the words they choose.

Chicontla is the largest community in the municipality of Jopala, bigger than the seat itself, and has become the valley's trading point; the priest who serves the area lives here too. The 2020 census counted 3,030 residents, and the village sits at about 334 metres, on low, hot and humid ground; toward Xicotepec the land climbs and the air turns cool and foggy. Its name comes from Nahuatl chicoltic, twisted thing, and tlan, abundance: "twisted land", which makes sense once you see the slopes that box in the river. Upstream lies Patla, which after the flood of October 1999 moved about a third of its people to new housing on the south bank.

All of Jopala has a warm, humid climate with rain all year and average temperatures of 18 to 26 °C; its waters reach the Tecolutla through the Necaxa and the Laxaxalpan. More than half the land is farmed and almost a third is pasture. Nahuas and Totonacs lived in the region before the conquest of 1522, and the municipality has existed as such since 1895. Local kitchens serve mole poblano, pipián, tamales and pressed chicharrón, washed down with coffee, chocolate, atole and refino, the local cane spirit; clay pottery is made as well. The big municipal festival honours the Virgin of the Assumption, from 12 to 22 August in Jopala, with the Negritos, Toreadores, Malinches and Wewes dances.