Tlapacoya

Tlapacoya is a small seat: the village had 691 people in 2020, fewer than some of its own hamlets such as Tlamaya Grande, and stands at about 1,110 m high in Puebla's Sierra Norte. Its name reads "where the summit crumbles", from tlapac, summit, and oyan, place where something shells or breaks off. The municipality was founded in 1895 on Totonac and Otomí settlements.

It covers about 63 km² and borders Tlaola, Jopala, San Felipe Tepatlán and Ahuacatlán. It is high, steep sierra of limestone and sandstone between 400 and 1,700 m, with a semi-warm, humid climate, averages of 18 to 22 °C and rain all year adding up to 2,400 to 2,600 mm. The Acala or Tlapayocan, Tlamaya and Ajajalpan rivers of the Tecolutla basin cross it, and a third of the land is forest. One of its best-loved places is Cerro del Cuatezón, a refuge for wildlife.

Most people speak Totonac or Nahuatl. Women's traditional dress is a white blouse embroidered with flowers, a black wool wrap skirt and braids with ribbons; men's is cotton trousers and shirt, palm hat, machete, shoulder bag and "rooster-foot" sandals. People eat bean tamales, mole and pit barbacoa, and drink aguardiente. The parish church of Señor Jesús dates from the 17th century.