Cuautlapan

Cuautlapan is one of the larger communities of Ixtaczoquitlán, the industrial municipality that fills the valley between Orizaba and Córdoba in Veracruz's Altas Montañas. Around 8,200 people live here, and the name is Nahuatl, built from cuauhtlalli, fertile land, and pan, on: "on fertile land".

The village centres on the parish church of San Sebastián Mártir on Calle Independencia, part of the Diocese of Orizaba and listed among the most visited churches in the municipality. Two hills rise behind the houses. Cerro San Juan, known locally as the Cerro de las Antenas, gives a view over the whole village, while the summit of Cerro Chicahuaxtla looks down on Cuautlapan and neighbouring Zapoapan, where guided walks along the Sendero Chicahuaxtla begin.

The damp hillsides matter to biologists as well. Cuautlapan and Cerro Chicahuaxtla are among the places where the salamander Pseudoeurycea nigromaculata, found only in Veracruz, has been recorded, at 1,240 to 1,670 metres, and a 1990s field study of the knob-scaled lizard Xenosaurus grandis was carried out here. For food, the local staple is chayote, which cooks across the municipality turn into sweets, jelly, purée and sauce.