Tepoztlán

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The Tepozteco mountain dominates views from Tepoztlán

Tepoztlán view

Tepoztlán is a town in the Mexican state of Morelos. It is located at 18°5′3″N, 99°0′2″W in the heart of the Tepoztlán Valley. The town serves as the seat of government for the municipality of the same name. The municipality reported 32,921 inhabitants in the 2000 national census.

The toponym Tepoztlán is derived from the Nahuatl and literarilly means "place of abundant copper". This is derived from the words tepozt-tli (copper) and tlan ("abundance").

The town is a popular tourist destination near Mexico City. The town is famous for the remains of a temple built on top of the nearby Tepozteco mountain, as well as for the exotic ice-cream flavours prepared by the townspeople.

Tepoztlan has become a place of reunion for different religions and practices such as New Age, hare krishna, the Great Universal Fraternity or traditional pagan religions that survived the Spaniard invasion and which merged with catholicism. The town has fame of being a spiritual place where energies and mysticism converge and where, even, U.F.O. are spotted regularly. It is also a center for holistic practices, naturism, esoterism and alternative medicine.

1 Climate
2 Economy
3 History
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Climate

The climate around the Tepoztlán Sierra (where el Tepozteco is located) shows temperate as well as some subtropical variations. The rainy season starts during the Summer and ends at the beginning of Autumn. Precipitation reaches 1000 mm/yr in the Tepoztlán Valley and up to 1200 mm/yr in the mountains.

[edit] Economy

Agriculture specially growing of maize, chili and tomatoes. livestock growing. Traditional pottery and handicrafts (for which there is a lively weekend market or tianguis). Tourism.

[edit] History

The pyramid atop Tepozteco

It has not yet been possible to determine who first inhabited the area. The earliest findings of pottery and other ceramic utensils date back to approximately 1500 BCE.

By the 10th century CE the Toltec culture was predominant in the area. Tepoztlán is said to have been the birthplace of Ce Acatl, a very important Toltec leader, later known as Topiltzin_Ce_Acatl_Quetzalcoatl, and who may be the possible historical basis of the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl.

During the Spanish Conquest Hernán Cortéz is said to have ordered the town razed after the refusal of the town leaders to meet him. This event was chronicled by Bernal Díaz del Castillo in The Conquest of New Spain.

In recent years the town has become a meeting point for the New Age movement. There have also been many unverified claims of UFO sightings close to the pyramid at the top of the Tepozteco mountain.