Huazuntlán

Huazuntlán is the main outlying community of Mecayapan municipality in southern Veracruz: it had 3,202 residents in 2020 and sits about 12 km from the municipal seat, right beside the road, only 73 metres above sea level. The name comes from Nahuatl huauhtzontli, amaranth, plus -tlan, and translates as "place where amaranth grows in abundance".

This is Nahua country. Huazuntlán, like Mecayapan, Tonalapa and Ixhuapan, speaks Isthmus Nahuatl, a variety its speakers call melaꞌtájto̱l. Most families farm, in a hot, wet climate averaging around 23 °C with more than 2,200 mm of rain a year. The municipality is part of the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, whose core zones include the Santa Marta volcano, and its forest still holds royal palm, cedar and caobilla.

For visitors the draw is the water. The Huazuntlán river is listed among the municipality's bathing spots; the streams here drain towards the Chalapa. Up in the municipal seat the big fair honours Santiago Jacobo in May, with dances, fireworks and horse races, and on the Days of the Dead families build altars with tamales, fruit and marigolds. Mole and barbacoa are the dishes locals point to.