Tulcingo de Valle

From the 1980s on, Tulcingo became a net exporter of migrant workers, who left mostly for the United States, and that story still shapes the town. With 6,048 residents in 2020 and an altitude of 1,096 m, it is the seat of the municipality of Tulcingo, in the corner where Puebla meets Oaxaca and Guerrero, about 96 km from Atlixco and 102 km from Cuautla. The name comes from tolli, tzintli and co, "in the little tule marsh", and the "de Valle" suffix has been official only since 1951.

Mixtecs founded it before the Spanish arrived, and it later fell under México-Tenochtitlan. In colonial times it depended on Chila de la Sal, and relations with that neighbour stayed tense after Tulcingo became a municipality in 1823: in 1876 the dispute ended in armed clashes with deaths on both sides. The church of San Gabriel in the centre is open year-round, and on 24 March the archangel is celebrated with dances, cockfights, horse races, a jaripeo rodeo, a livestock show and a food fair with turkey mole, chicken pipián, pozole and pork adobo with huajes. The neighbourhoods of Tepeyac, San Miguel, San José and Santa Cruz hold their own feasts.

The municipality covers about 279 km² of very broken terrain in the Mixteca, with Cerro Tecomate among its heights and the Tecoloyan as its only permanent river. The climates are very hot semi-arid and warm subhumid, averaging 20 to 26 °C with 700 to 1,000 mm of rain, and almost half the land is tropical deciduous forest. Strap huaraches are made and hides tanned here, and the town has its own brass band. Local treats include tlaxcales, seed jamoncillo, alegrías and palanquetas, with mezcal, cane spirit or a nanche drink.