Sebastopol

Few names sound as far from the Puebla highlands as Sebastopol, the Crimean port, but that is what this rural village of Chignahuapan is called, about 7 km north of the town. In 2020 it had 1,038 people in 240 homes, up from 876 in 2010, and it lies at about 2,370 m. No published record explains the name.

Chignahuapan is Puebla's second-largest municipality, about 759 km² reaching to the Hidalgo and Tlaxcala lines. Almost all of it drains to the Tecolutla River, flowing toward the Gulf, with a smaller part in the Moctezuma basin on the Pánuco side. The landscape is rolling volcanic tuff with plains and steep-sided ranges, topped by the 3,440 m Peñón del Rosario. The climate is mild and sub-humid, with summer rain and averages of 10 to 16 °C.

The municipality is famous for its hand-blown glass Christmas baubles, made in workshops in the town, along with earthenware, loom-woven gabanes and ponchos, and rustic furniture. On the table you'll find pressed pork crackling, cheese bread and tejocote and squash sweets. The basilica of the Immaculate Conception in town, with its large carved wooden image, is a few minutes away.