Atlatlahucan

Atlatlahucan is a small municipal seat a few kilometers east of Tlayacapan, on the road toward Cuautla. It was a dependency of Tlayacapan until 1932, and the two towns share a history: both were settled by Xochimilca peoples, both paid tribute to the Mexica after the conquests of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, and both were evangelized by the Augustinians who arrived in the region in 1533.

The reason to come is the convent of San Mateo Apóstol, built around 1570 on the remains of a pre-Hispanic temple at the highest point of town. It is one of the sixteenth-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The church front rises very high, as Augustinian facades often do, and the Stations of the Cross are set into small chapels along the outside of the atrium wall. In the atrium stand two roofed chapels, one painted with a family tree of Saint Augustine. Inside, frescoes once covered nearly every wall, and the vaults mix Moorish patterns with Italian Renaissance ones; look in the cloister for a vault decorated with a chain of Sacred Hearts.

After the UNESCO listing, the convent's old orchards were among the first areas restored, and they now grow avocados and other crops that help pay for upkeep. Atlatlahucan is an easy add-on to a convent route that also takes in Totolapan and Yecapixtla.