La Magdalena Tlatlauquitepec

La Magdalena Tlatlauquitepec has fewer residents than any other municipality in Puebla, and nearly all of them live in one village, the seat. The municipality covers 11.1 km² and had 484 people in 2010; the 2020 census counted 647 in the village. It lies at about 1,620 m below the Sierra del Tentzo, almost surrounded by Huehuetlán el Grande, with Huatlatlauca to the east. Don't mix it up with Tlatlauquitepec, the Pueblo Mágico in the Sierra Norte, or with La Magdalena, a village in that municipality known for its swimming pools in the river.

The Nahuatl name translates as "hill that colours", from tlatlahui, to colour, and tepetl, hill. Mixtec groups were the first settlers; after independence the village belonged to the Tepexi district, and it became a free municipality in 1895. To the north the land climbs the dry limestone hills of the Tentzo to about 2,340 m; southward it levels out, and at the far end the Cerro Grande, Tlacolotla and Cuiyapan ravines carry seasonal water to the Huehuetlán river, a tributary of the Atoyac. There are oaks, yuccas and junipers, with patches of dry tropical forest holding copal, cuajilote and ceiba.

The church of Santa María Magdalena dates from the 16th century, was remodelled in the 17th and has two bell towers of different sizes. Its fiesta is on 22 July, with processions and the Twelve Peers of France, tecuanis and vaqueros dances. People work palm, clay and ixtle fibre, and local sweets include xemezcal, made from maguey hearts, candied squash and jamoncillo. The municipal encyclopedia also points to the Ojo de Agua river, the Venero de Agua spring and the Tlacayocán pools.