Ciudad Serdán

Many people in the area still call it San Andrés, or San Andrés Chalchicomula. Ciudad Serdán sits at 2,520 m in eastern Puebla, and from its rooftops you look straight at Citlaltépetl, or Pico de Orizaba, 19.5 km away in a straight line, and at Sierra Negra, 14 km away, whose summit holds the Large Millimeter Telescope. Almost two thirds of the municipality is flat land, the Llanos de San Andrés, which soak up the meltwater coming off the volcano.

There is no founding charter. The usual starting point is a decree by Viceroy Luis de Velasco dated 17 October 1560, which confirmed the right of the valley's indigenous people to farm their land as cattle ranches spread. In colonial times the town was a granary and a relay post on the royal road between Veracruz, Puebla and Mexico City, where stagecoaches changed teams. Morelos made it his headquarters in 1811 and 1812, staying in Antonio Sesma's house, and Mariano Matamoros held it in 1813.

The name changed twice: on 31 August 1910 it became Chalchicomula de Sesma, after that family of insurgents, and on 23 August 1934 Ciudad Serdán, after Aquiles and Máximo Serdán. Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, president from 1964 to 1970, was born here. Many foreign merchants settled in the 19th century, and mansions such as the Casa de la Magnolia (1820) and Casa Macón (1862) date from then. The Orizaba earthquake killed hundreds in the city and damaged thousands of homes.

The big event is the feast of Padre Jesús de las Tres Caídas: twelve days of serenades in the churchyard, then, on the last Sunday of August, an overnight procession of about eight hours along some 3.5 km of streets laid with carpets, led by the negritos dancers from La Gloria. A livestock show runs at the same time. Local dishes include chileatole, triangular tlaxcales, mushroom texmole and broad-bean soup, with corn cake and tejocote preserves to finish.