Huahuaxtla

Huahuaxtla is the only junta auxiliar, or sub-municipal district, of Xochitlán de Vicente Suárez, a small municipality of about 46 km² in the Sierra Norte of Puebla. The village lies about 6 km south of the seat, at 1,556 m, in the southern and highest part of the municipality, which has a mild, wet climate with rain all year. Weather records show more than 300 rainy days a year, and in December 1997 there was even a 1.5 cm snowfall.

The name is read as 'facing where there are trees', from the Nahuatl cuahuitl, tree, and ixtla, in front of. This is Nahua country: most people in the municipality speak Highland Puebla Nahuatl, and blouses are embroidered and shawls, skirts and sashes woven here.

In 2020 Huahuaxtla had 2,382 residents, nearly the same as in 2010 (2,471). A century ago it was much smaller: after 1,572 people in 1900, the 1921 census counted only 927. Farming is the main livelihood.

The seat, Xochitlán, keeps the parish church of San Bartolomé, built in 1633, whose feast on 24 August brings quetzalines, voladores, tejedores and huehues dances as well as a jaripeo. The seat also has the house of Vicente Suárez, the military cadet the municipality is named after, and about 3 km away the Balcón del Diablo lookout.