Tlanalapan

At about 2,980 m above sea level, Tlanalapan is one of Puebla's highest villages. Its Nahuatl name, from tlalli, land, nal, the other side, and apan, river, means "land across the river". It belongs to the municipality of Lafragua at the eastern edge of the state and had 1,029 people in 2020. Its church is dedicated to Saint Raphael and is decorated with arches for the festival, as in the photo.

Lafragua is named for the Puebla politician and writer José María Lafragua. Its territory, about 181 km², runs from 2,320 to 3,900 m and borders the Veracruz municipalities of Perote and Ayahualulco to the north and north-east. It is volcanic country, with stratovolcanoes, stepped basalt plateaus and plains, and nearly all its soils are andosols. It is cold: averages run from 4 to 14 °C, and the main climate is semi-cold and sub-humid with summer rain. Streams only run in season and mostly drain into the closed Totolcingo basin, though one strip flows to the Jamapa on the Gulf side.

People in the municipality embroider with silk thread and model figures from bread dough. They eat barbacoa, mixiote in maguey leaf, tamales in corn leaves and chilposo with guajillo chilli, drink pulque, aguamiel and tejocote or apple aguardiente, and celebrate religious festivals with brass bands. In the seat, Saltillo, stand the parish church of San José and a marble chapel of San Isidro.