San José

San José is a hamlet of 131 people (2020) right next to Chichiquila, the municipal seat, less than a kilometre from its centre and at about 1,830 m. The photo shows Avenida Morelos in Chichiquila, with its church, a short walk away.

Here you are already on the Gulf side. Most of the municipality is semi-warm and humid all year, averaging 17 to 19 °C with some 1,900 to 2,000 mm of rain, far more than the Puebla plateau. Water flows not to the Atoyac but to the Papaloapan, via the Decozalapa and Jamapa rivers; the Tilapa runs all year, joined in season by streams such as the Axala, Coxolijapa, Ixteapa and Otlapa. More than two fifths of the land is still forest and the rest is farmed.

Over 3,000 speakers of indigenous languages live in the municipality, mostly Nahuatl. Craftspeople make scrubbing brushes from zacatón grass root and work timber for building. On the table are mole poblano, chileatole and peach and apple preserves, and the local drink is aguardiente steeped with peach, pear, apple and capulín cherries. Religious festivals are played by brass bands, and the parish church of San Mateo in the seat dates from the 16th century.