Tlacotalpan

Tlacotalpan is a small river town on the Papaloapan River, about 90 km southeast of the port of Veracruz, in the region known as the Sotavento. Nicknamed the "pearl of the Papaloapan", it is famous for its streets of one- and two-storey houses with long colonnaded porches, inner courtyards, red-tiled roofs and facades painted in strong colours. In 1998 UNESCO inscribed its historic centre on the World Heritage List as the Historic Monuments Zone of Tlacotalpan, a core of 75 hectares with a grid of 153 blocks. It had 7,287 people at the 2020 census, and fishing and tourism are its main sources of income; the name comes from Nahuatl and is usually read as "land between the waters".

The Spanish settled here in 1550, on what was then an island in the Papaloapan. English pirates burned the town in 1667, and after a flood in 1714 it moved to its present site; further fires in 1698, 1788 and 1790 led to rebuilding in stone with tile roofs. From the colonial era through the 19th century Tlacotalpan was one of the main river ports of the Gulf, handling the trade of the Papaloapan basin, and it was briefly home to one of Mexico's first naval schools, the Colegio de Marina, which began classes on 14 January 1825. It became a town in 1847 and a city in 1865, but its trade declined after the railways arrived in the early 20th century. The low land around it is prone to floods, and the town was badly hit in 2010.

The centre is made for walking or cycling. Plaza Zaragoza, with its palms and 19th-century bandstand, is flanked by the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Candelaria, built in the late 18th century partly of reef stone, and the Neoclassical parish of San Cristóbal; nearby are San Miguelito, from 1785, the 1891 Teatro Netzahualcóyotl and museums dedicated to the painter Salvador Ferrando and the songwriter Agustín Lara. Local boatmen offer rides on the Papaloapan in wooden boats, and restaurants on the riverside boardwalk serve arroz a la tumbada. The big event is the Candelaria festival around 2 February, when the image of the Virgin is carried through the streets and then along the river in a parade of decorated boats, and musicians from across the country gather for the national meeting of jaraneros and versadores, with son jarocho fandangos every night.