Ajalpan is a city in the southeastern part of the state of
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. It has come to fame recently for lynching two pollsters in October, 2015, when townspeople mistook them for kidnappers and burned them alive. At a Latitude of 18.370003 and a Longitude of -97.2499466, Ajalpan lies near the northern border of the adjacent state of
Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
, and is the municipal seat of the
Ajalpan Municipality, which surrounds it.
This small city lies in the desert valley south east of the city of
Tehuacan between
Altepexi
Altepexi Municipality is a municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla in south-eastern Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion ...
and
Coxcatlan. One of the products commonly associated with Ajalpan are the red clay roofing shingles or tiles known as 'tejas'. For this reason many of the inhabitants jokingly refer to it as "Ajalpan da las tejas" (meaning: Ajalpan makes shingles) but when spoken sounds like "Ajalpan Day Laws Tayhaws" or "Ajalpan Dallas, Texas".
The region around Ajalpan is fairly arid and there are many types of cactus growing round about. The
prickly pear (or 'tuna'/'pitajaya' (in Nahuatl: ''nōchtli'' )) grows naturally in the area and is harvested by the inhabitants who eat the fruit or use the sweet juice in drinks.
References
Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
PueblaEnciclopedia de los Municipios de México
New York Times, January 23, 2016
Populated places in Puebla
{{Puebla-geo-stub