San Pablo Coapan

For much of the 19th century San Pablo Coapan had a town council of its own. It was founded in 1526, the same year as San Pedro Tonayán and Paxtepec, and after independence became the seat of the municipality of San Pablo Coapan, which lasted until a decree of 23 December 1896 abolished it, along with Aguasuelos and Atexquilapan, and handed its land to Naolinco. Today it is one of that municipality's main villages and chooses its municipal agent by secret ballot.

The name mixes two languages: San Pablo for its patron, Paul of Tarsus, and Coapan from Nahuatl coatl, snake, and apan, river, so "river of snakes". In 2020 it had 1,712 residents. The village lies west of Naolinco on the mild, damp uplands of the Xalapa region, averaging about 18 °C with more than 1,600 mm of rain a year, on soils formed from volcanic ash.

Since Naolinco is next door, it makes sense to pair the two. In the municipal seat, around 20 minutes away, you can watch the roughly 80-metre waterfall from the lookout, browse the shoe and leather shops on Dr. Lucio and Nicolás Bravo streets and try local sausages, mole and milk or pumpkin-seed sweets; Naolinco is also known for the way it keeps the Day of the Dead; the village of San Miguel Aguasuelos sells white clay pottery.