The Municipality
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The municipality of Ixmiquilpan consists of the town of Ixmiquilpan and 145 other recognized communities, which cover an area of 565.3 km². The largest communities outside of the seat are Panales, el Tephé, Maguey Blanco, Orizabita, el Alberto, Dios Padre, Julián Villagrán and Tatzadhó. The municipality borders with the municipalities of Zimapán, Nicolás Flores, Cardonal, Santiago de Anaya, San Salvador, Chilcuautla and Tasquillo. The total population of the municipality is 73,903, with 24,341, or almost a third speaking an indigenous language.
The climate and topography of the municipal divide into two parts. The land is beautiful and many take hiking trips for fun since the climate is almost perfect. This is increasing tourism in the area. Many buses departing from Mexico City arrive to this destination and visitors spend time in the so famous water parks throughout the community. One well known park is El Parque Acuatico De Dios Padre. This particular park offers transportation, hotels, camping and services for tourists that come from Mexico City. Many immigrants that migrated to the U.S. in the 1980s as the result in shortages of farm labor in California are from this particular area. Now in their late 20s, many have now obtained a higher education in the U.S. and are now returning to their homeland in Ixmiquilpan. This has let to new entrepreneurship in the area. Small businesses of tourism and hotels can now be found across the city. The southern portion is dry with green areas only where there is irrigation. It is relatively flat. The north in squarely in the Mezquital Valley and is considerably higher, wetter and more mountainous. A mountain ridge separates the two sections. The highest elevations are found at the La Palma, Thito, Muñeca, Guadril, Temboo, Dexitzo and Daxhie Mountains. These and other mountains have forests which contain pine, oak, walnut and a number of other trees. The dry areas contain vegetation such as mesquite, nopal, palms and other plants adapted to arid areas. Much of the agriculture in the municipality occurs in the relatively flat south which relies on irrigation due to the lack of rainfall. Main crops are corn, beans, animal feed and tomatoes. Livestock raised includes cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, turkeys and bees. There is some fishing in the north, where water is abundant, but it is mostly for auto-consumption.
Almost a third of the population of the municipality still speaks an indigenous language, and this is almost exclusively Otomí. This is especially true in the smaller communities such as San Alberto, located in one of the lower portions of the Mezquital Valley off the highway between Ixmiquilpan and El Progreso, near the Tula River. It is a village of about 700 people, all of whom speak Otomi and a number speak little or no Spanish. They are farmers, living off the harvests of corn, beans and other staples. It is a poor town, with roads in disrepair and no streetlights. While the village has been converting this fresh water and hot springs here into bathing pools to attract tourism, many of their young people go to the United States to work and send back money.
The cuisine of this area is dependent on what is grown here. The pigweed which used to be the base of Ixmiquilpan's Otomi name, is eaten with nopales and in other mixtures. Edible insects such as butterfly larvae, honey ants, nopal beetles, escamoles, mesquite, nopal and corn worms are all used here in tacos, roasted, in omelets and other ways. The maguey flower, called gualumbo, is sautéed with epazote, onion and chile. Catfish and barbacoa are also staples here.
The municipality contains a number of water parks which take advantage of the streams and springs that are heated by the volcanic activity of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt which runs through here. Many of these waters have a high mineral content and are claimed to have curative powers. Some of these water parks are Tephé, Te-Pathé, Dios Padre, Parque Ecoturistico EcoAlberto, Balneario Valle Paraíso, Pueblo Nuevo, Balneario Maguey Blanco, El Dauthi and Puerta de Oeste. There is also a natural reserve located to the north of the town on State Highway 27, which exuberant vegetation, waterfalls and rock formations, where camping and other outdoor activities are possible.
While the majority of the municipality's population (83%) are Catholic, other denominations have a definite presence, especially those called evangelicals. In the village of San Nicolás, there have been religious conflicts between traditional Catholics and evangelicals since 1991. In 2001, nine evangelical families were expelled from the town. Tensions rose again in 2006, when Catholics opposed the construction of an evangelical church in the area, and tried to tear down the building under construction. In the community of Cantinela, a number of Catholic religious images were found torched. Local and state authorities have had to intervene on a number of occasions.
