Corralillos

Less than fifteen minutes from Poza Rica, Corralillos is one of the larger villages of Coatzintla, a municipality that belongs to the Poza Rica metropolitan area and to the Totonac country of northern Veracruz. It lies on low ground, 74 metres above sea level, with a warm climate and summer rains.

The census record tracks its growth neatly: 3 inhabitants in 1900, 263 in 1921, 393 in 1950 and more than a thousand by 1980. By 2020 there were 1,424, putting it among the most populous places in the municipality after the seat, Geovillas del Real, Manuel María Contreras and Palma Sola.

For visitors the draw is the pre-Hispanic past. Corralillos has an archaeological zone that has never been formally excavated, and the village keeps one of the municipality's two community museums, with Totonac pieces and photographs of local history; check ahead that it is open. The Corralillos river has flat stretches and pools where people go in to cool off.

The municipality's main feast is Saint James the Apostle on 25 July in Coatzintla, with voladores, negritos, santiagueros and the dance of Moors and Christians. Local cooking includes pulacles (masa tamales wrapped in banana leaf), turkey mole, yucca flower with pipián and sweet corn bollitos.