Ex-Hacienda el Carmen

Where the El Carmen hacienda once stood, seven people live today, according to the 2020 census: it is one of the smallest hamlets in the municipality of Quecholac, at about 2,100 m on the plateau between Tecamachalco and Ciudad Serdán. The satellite view shows the old estate buildings surrounded by fields, which dominate the landscape: almost two thirds of Quecholac is farmed, and the rest is mostly scrub with some woodland.

The municipality, about 163 km², ranges from 2,060 to 2,900 m and has a mild, fairly dry climate, averaging 10 to 16 °C with 400 to 900 mm of summer rain. It has no permanent rivers: its streams run in season toward the Atoyac through the Balcón del Diablo sub-basin, and a small strip drains into the closed Totolzingo basin. It borders General Felipe Ángeles, San Juan Atenco, Chalchicomula de Sesma, Palmar de Bravo, Tecamachalco and Acatzingo.

Haciendas were central to the history of these plains; the municipality also keeps the former estate of San Miguel de Osorio. Craftspeople in Quecholac carve onyx and marble figures, plaster and wooden statues and rope goods. Local cooking includes mole, pipián, tamales and pork crackling; sweets are apricot, peach, plum and capulín preserves and "trompadas"; and drinks are pulque, aguamiel and capulín, apricot, fig and cherry wines. Palmarito Tochapan, the municipality's largest town, is close by.