San Bernardino Chalchihuapan

Three of the four sides of San Bernardino Chalchihuapan are closed off by the walls of an ancient volcanic dome, now known as three separate hills. Xitlala, at 2,380 metres, carries microwave antennas and serves as the base of a paragliding association; Cuautenca, just as high, is topped by a church that looks out over the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley; and La Alcantarilla reaches 2,320 metres. Inside that natural amphitheatre, at 2,202 metres, lived 6,031 people in 2020. The village is a junta auxiliar of Ocoyucan and lies in the northern part of the municipality, five kilometres west of Santa Clara Ocoyucan, the seat.

Because it sits on the windward side, clouds drop more rain here than elsewhere in the valley: precipitation reaches about 1,000 mm a year, almost all of it in summer, while winters are dry and the mean temperature is around 16 °C. People make a living from jarciería, the weaving of fibre ropes, cords and scrubbers, a craft that INEGI's compendium also records across Ocoyucan using henequen; they also raise poultry and grow maize and beans. The village has a preschool, morning and afternoon primary schools, a secondary school, a telesecundaria and a high school.

Ocoyucan began as a Nahua settlement next to the great lordships of Cholula and Huejotzingo, belonged to the old Cholula district and became a free municipality in 1895. It covers about 120 km² and borders San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, Teopantlán, Atlixco, Santa Isabel Cholula and San Gregorio Atzompa; it is part of the Puebla-Tlaxcala metropolitan area. A third of the land is still forest and another part grassland, and orchards yield cherimoya, peaches and avocados; brick, roof tiles and honey are also produced. In 2020 the municipality had 42,669 inhabitants, and its fair is held on 12 August.