Introduction
For a long time I have wanted to visit the small indigenous Chatino communities surrounding Santos Reyes Nopala, more commonly called Nopala. In 2016 I visited Santa Lucía Teotepec, more commonly called Teotepec, for Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead to see how the holiday was observed in Teotepec.
Getting there was the challenge. The public transportation consisted of a truck with two wooden benches, covered by a tarp. After an hour long bumpy ride climbing up a few mountains and forging a few streams I arrived at Teotepec. I have never been to Teotepec and had no idea of what to expect.
The population of Teotepec is 1844.[1] The town has an agricultural based economy, cash crops include coffee and sugarcane. Spanish and Chatino are the spoken languages. There are no banks, hotels or even a restaurant as far as I know.
The town has two churches which are right next to each other. The smaller older church is behind the pine tree in the photo to your right or below. My photo of the insides of the new church hardly give justice to the beauty of the church.
