San Agustín

San Agustín is a hamlet of 354 people (2020) in the municipality of Guadalupe Victoria at the eastern edge of Puebla, about 2,410 m above sea level. From the surrounding fields you can see Pico de Orizaba, as in the photo, taken nearby.

This is the landscape of the Llanos de San Juan, a basin with no outlet to the sea where water gathers in lakes rather than rivers. The municipality has only seasonal streams, such as the Dos Aguas and Metacoyote, and Laguna La Preciosa is its permanent body of water. It is cold, dry country: averages run 8 to 14 °C, rain is 300 to 900 mm a year, and three quarters of the land has a cool semi-arid climate. Almost two thirds is farmed; the rest is woodland, scrub and grassland, with a little bare ground.

In Guadalupe Victoria people make ceramic crucifixes, forge iron and cut paving stones. Typical food is white barbacoa, mixiotes, mole and chiles en nogada, with squash and sweet-potato sweets, pulque and aguardiente; festivals are played by wind bands. The parish church in the seat, dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, holds paintings and murals in oil and watercolour.