Tepexi de Rodríguez

Tepexi de Rodríguez is the seat of the municipality of the same name in Puebla's Mixteca. Its Nahuatl name, Tepexic, means "split rock"; in Mixtec it is Kawa, "crag". The area sits on the boundary between Popoloca, Mixtec and Nahuatl speakers. The Popolocas founded Tepexi el Viejo, which paid tribute to the Aztecs; after the Conquest the town was refounded and its people moved to the present site. In the late 18th century it was the alcaldía of Tepexi de la Seda, one of fifteen in the province of Puebla, and during the War of Independence it was an insurgent stronghold: the priest Juan Moctezuma y Cortés, who joined Hidalgo's movement in 1810, came from here.

The town's main building is the parish church and former convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, its patron saint. It also houses the Señor de Huajoyuca, a Christ figure that, according to tradition, arrived from Asia through Acapulco in the late 18th century, was hidden in the village of Huajoyuca and was carried to Tepexi on 8 May 1806. Its feast is the first Friday of Lent, with a procession that starts on the Thursday night and winds through the streets for hours.

About 16 km away on a dirt road lies the Tepexi el Viejo archaeological zone, open Thursday to Sunday with free entry. The municipality's geology is rich in fossils, and the finds led to the Pie de Vaca site museum, or Museo Regional Mixteco Tlayúa, where footprints of Cenozoic camels and cats have been studied.