Monte Salas

Monte Salas is Fortín's northern exit. Federal Highway 143, which runs from Fortín to Huatusco, doubles as its main street, and alongside it flows the Metlac River, the same river whose ravine, a few kilometres south, is famous for its bridges. With 2,222 people in 2020, up from 1,850 in 2010, it is the fifth largest of the municipality's 79 localities and has grown quickly in recent years.

It sits at about 1,170 metres, which gives it a mild and very wet climate: the yearly average is around 18 °C and it rains on more than 300 days a year. Around the village are the Metlac–Río Blanco ecological reserve and a waterfall on the river that maps label Cascada de Guadalupe. In the centre there is a park, the church, the Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez primary school, the Ricardo Muñoz Lazcano telesecundaria, a kindergarten and the Casa del Campesino community hall; along the highway there are shops, a motel and a transport stop. Eight homes in ten have a mobile phone and four in ten have internet.

Fortín is flower country: each May it holds a regional flower show, the Expo-flor, and what little craftwork there is revolves around flowers. Local sweets include jamoncillos, duquesas and palanquetas made with piloncillo. A few minutes away is the Metlac ravine, crossed by four bridges from different eras: the colonial San Miguel bridge, the Mexican Railway viaduct, in service from 1873 to 1985 and painted by José María Velasco, a newer railway bridge and the Córdoba–Orizaba motorway bridge. On 19 April 1862 the ravine saw the first clash between Mexican and French troops of the Intervention.