Nacajuca

Nacajuca is the seat of the municipality of the same name, on low plain north of Villahermosa, and one of the main centers of Tabasco's Chontal Maya people. It had 10,956 residents in 2020. In Yokot'an, the Chontals' Mayan language, the town is called Yäxtup; the people call themselves yoko yinikob (men) and yoko ixikob (women), "the true ones", while "Chontal" is a Nahuatl word meaning "foreigner". The land is flat and floods easily, and the 2007 and 2011 floods hit it hard.

Hernán Cortés passed through in 1524-1525 and praised the region's cacao. The first church, of straw, wattle and clay, went up in 1614 along with the royal house; the town became a villa in 1863 and a city in 1971. In 1906 a railway linked it with Cunduacán and Comalcalco. Today the church of San Antonio de Padua, built in 1965 and mostly Gothic in style, faces the Parque Miguel Hidalgo, the hub of civic life. There is a riverside walk on the Nacajuca River and a crafts plaza where artisans from across the municipality sell bags, hats and mats woven of palm or water hyacinth, joloche figures, gourds, and the embroidered ribbons of the Arroyo community.

Food is part of the visit: roasted pejelagarto, river and lagoon fish, pozol, chorote and hot chocolate. Along the Villahermosa–Nacajuca road runs a strip of restaurants called Bijhi Yoko'tan. Nearby are Olcuatitán (Candlemas, 1 and 2 February), Tucta, Tapotzingo and Mazateupa, with colorful churches and workshops. The feast of San Antonio is 11 to 13 June.