Cuetzalan () is a small town set high in the hills in the north of the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

, from

, the state capital. Franciscan friars founded the town in 1547.

Overview

Cuetzalan is located in the Sierra Norte region. The climate is warm and humid due to the elevation of 900–1000 meters and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. The town itself is characterized by sloping cobbled streets and numerous rustic buildings. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Cuetzalan del Progreso. Cuetzalan was named a "

Pueblo Mágico Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlemen ...

" in 2002. The town center is composed largely of handicraft markets as well as numerous stalls selling every-day necessities. As a tourist attraction, the town also has a few bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Getting to Cuetzalán from Puebla takes around four hours. The best route is by getting a coach from central bus depot in Puebla. The

BUAP The Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla () (BUAP) is the oldest and largest university in Puebla, Mexico. Founded on 15 April 1578 as Colegio del Espíritu Santo, the school was sponsored by the Society of Jesus during most of the Spanis ...

has a Regional Section here.

Waterfalls

One of the main attractions of the town is ''La Cascada de las Brisas'', a

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

located within the jungle surrounding the town. There are some open back

jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

s that can be taken to the end of the road, where a trail begins through the jungle to the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. There are countless other waterfalls in the jungle and coffee plantations surrounding the town. Many can be seen by taking the walking paths east, all the way to Papantla, in the State of Veracruz, (a long two- to three-day hike). Upon crossing the river which marks the state boundary of Veracruz and Puebla, the culture and language changes to

Totonac The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a cit ...

Caves

The town also features a large network of caves. In 2004 a group of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

cavers became trapped in the caves and were stuck for several days. Upon being rescued it transpired that some of them were military personnel. Since the

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republ ...

had not been informed of the presence of foreign military personnel (although the Mexican military had), they were expelled, causing brief diplomatic friction between the two countries. It is important to note that these caves are potentially very dangerous and the only reason the 2004 expedition did not suffer the loss of six lives during the flood is that the team was composed of experienced cavers who were well prepared and knew the cave systems intimately, some of them having been involved in exploration in Cuetzalan for 15 years.

Media

XECTZ-AM XECTZ-AM (''La Voz de la Sierra Norte'' – "The Voice of the Sierra Norte") is an indigenous community radio station that broadcasts in Spanish, Nahuatl and Totonac from Cuetzalan, in the Sierra Norte region of the Mexican state of Puebla. It ...

, a government-run

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

that broadcasts in

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

and

, is based in Cuetzalan.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Puebla Pueblos Mágicos Populated places established in 1547 World Heritage Tentative List for Mexico