Tierra Blanca

Tierra Blanca is a city and municipal seat in the Papaloapan basin of southern-central Veracruz, about 98 km from the port of Veracruz and close to the Oaxaca border; the Oaxacan town of Joliette, across the Amapa River, is only about 4 km away. It had 47,035 people at the 2020 census. The surrounding plains, at around 60 m above sea level, are cattle country and grow large amounts of rice and sugar cane, along with sorghum, chile, watermelon, papaya and melon. It is one of the hottest towns in the state, and local poets call it "la novia del sol", the sun's bride. The name comes from the white limestone clay on the bed of a local stream.

The Olmec, then the Totonac and finally the Aztecs held this land before the conquest, and more than thirty archaeological sites are known in the municipality, including Nopiloa, and the area has yielded the smiling-face figurines, of Totonac influence, known as caritas sonrientes. In colonial times it was hacienda land, centred on the Hacienda de la Estanzuela. The town itself began in 1868, when families from Tlalixcoyan built palm and cane houses beside a stream with a white bed and called the place Guadalupe Paso Blanco; by 1876 it had about 80 inhabitants. The railway changed everything: the Veracruz al Pacífico line reached it in 1900, a branch toward the port of Veracruz was started from here in 1901, and passenger station and workshops opened in 1905, making Tierra Blanca a major railway junction. It became an independent municipality on 16 June 1915, a villa in 1930 and a city in 1935; the steam locomotive on its coat of arms is numbered 5, after the first train to arrive.

The centre has the main park, the arcaded municipal palace begun in 1931 and the parish church, begun in 1939, while a steam locomotive stands beside the railway station as a tribute to the railway town. At the main entrance a roundabout is decorated with the "Caritas Sonrientes", large smiling faces inspired by the region's pre-Hispanic figurines. The biggest events come in December: from 1 to 12 December the town honours the Virgin of Guadalupe with nightly processions, a tradition started in 1940, and from 11 to 19 December the local ranchers' association holds its regional cattle fair. Carnival, held since 1930, falls in late April or early May, and the town is proud of its son jarocho harpists. The typical dish is barbacoa de res or chilcaldo, and Laguna María Lizamba, in the municipality, has restaurants serving fish and seafood.