La Florida

La Florida is a village of 674 people (2020) in the municipality of Ángel R. Cabada, southern Veracruz, about 8.5 km east of the municipal seat. It lies barely above sea level, around 36 metres, where the lowlands running toward the Papaloapan begin to rise into the Los Tuxtlas range: flat to the northwest, hilly to the southeast. San Martín Tuxtla volcano, the area's highest point, is about 20 km to the east. Almost everything around the village is farmland.

The climate is hot and very wet. The yearly average is about 23 °C, May is the warmest month, and more than 2,700 mm of rain falls a year; September is the wettest month with about 500 mm and February the driest. Seven in ten homes have a mobile phone, though home internet is rare.

Water is what draws visitors. The municipality has several bathing resorts, and one carries the village's name: Balneario La Florida, on Avenida Trópico Nueva Victoria, with pools set among plenty of greenery. A few kilometres away on the Gulf coast highway are Paraíso Escondido and El Zapote at La Zamaria, and Cinco Chorros at Paso del Ingenio, with pools fed by springs.

The municipal seat, a few minutes away, was once called El Mesón and was a small Epi-Olmec centre between 400 BC and AD 100; the El Mesón Stela was found there by farmers in the 1950s. From the local kitchen, look for gallinitas en plátano, casamiento and mojarras a la diabla.