Santos Reyes Nopala – Chatino Culture and Stelae

Distinctive cultural references shape the town of Santos Reyes Nopala. The municipality’s mountainous topography continues in the northeast, where the town of Santos Reyes Nopala is located. Elevations in the municipality reach approximately 1,700 metres above sea level. For your trip planning, it is worth considering both levels: the town, with its named cultural sites, and the broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala, with its wider landscape and agricultural context.

Monuments and archaeological traces

The Templo de los Reyes Magos is a historic monument in Santos Reyes Nopala. Another specific point of reference is the twelve stelae embedded in the walls of the municipal palace. They were found at the site now known as Cerro Iglesia. The stelae are associated with one of Oaxaca’s earliest civilizations, which settled there around 2000 BC. The monument and the stelae offer different ways to engage with the town’s history: one is a named historic building, while the others are evidence also associated with early settlement.

Chatino music and cultural traditions

Music also gives cultural identity a tangible form. An official cultural announcement in 2024 included a performance by Los Tejones Nee Bya, a group from Santos Reyes Nopala, in the 52nd Circuito Cervantino. The group was to present more than 20 original melodies in the traditional Chatino Chilena genre. A cultural presentation in 2024 also featured the Boda Chatina and Torna Boda from the broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala, accompanied by Sones and Chilenas. The Jarabe del Guajolote also originates in Santos Reyes Nopala. These different references offer starting points if you would like to explore regional music before your trip.

Feria del Camote: music and sweet potato dishes

The tenth edition of the Feria del Camote was announced for 4 November 2018 in Santos Reyes Nopala. At that edition, musical groups from the municipality were expected to play traditional Chilenas live. The food programme was to include tamales, mole and atole, as well as milkshakes, aguas frescas, pizzas and empanadas. The announced sweet potato desserts included, among other things, sweet potatoes candied in panela, flan, gelatin and cake. This offers a specific glimpse of the festival programme at the time; if you are planning a trip for the Feria, check the current event dates.

The broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala

Beyond the town, the broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala encompasses a diverse landscape and economic context. In the northern part of the municipality, the Sierra Madre del Sur continues; coffee plantations and pine-oak forests shape the landscape described there. A municipal plan for 2008 to 2010 identifies coffee as the most important agricultural activity in the municipal territory of the broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala; it lists 2,800 hectares and 500 producers for coffee cultivation. For that same municipal territory of the broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala, the plan describes small craft workshops of various kinds, where women make up the majority of those working. A 2018 report describes the broader destination of Santos Reyes Nopala as the cradle of the Chatino region and reports that Chatino is preserved there as a mother tongue.

Getting there and choosing a holiday rental to suit your interests

A municipal plan for 2008 to 2010 describes the municipality’s road connection via Federal Highway 131 between Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido, through Sola de Vega: near San Gabriel Mixtepec, an approximately twelve-kilometre paved road branches off and connects with the municipality of Santos Reyes Nopala. Check current road conditions before travelling. When looking for a holiday rental, you can first consider whether you are mainly interested in the town’s cultural references, or whether you would also like to include the landscape and agriculture of the wider municipal area in your trip planning. This keeps your choice of search destination aligned with your interests, without treating the town and the municipal area as the same thing.

See the broader travel overview: Santos Reyes Nopala.