Axtla de Terrazas
The dramatic and colorful town of herbal health and crazy outdoor adventure; come for the healing, but stay for the invigorating landscape and the sense that everything is new again.
Axtla de Terrazas is one of the best-kept secrets of the Huasteca region of San Luis Potosí. The capital of a small, charming municipality, this town of around 8,000 inhabitants was for a long time only accessible by the colorful ferry that still crosses the Axtla River at the southern end of the city. The name derives from the Nahuatl word achtli, meaning pipián seed, with the suffix -tlan, meaning abundance. And there are no terraced fields in the surrounding mountains. The honorific de Terrazas is in honor of the hero of the Mexican Revolution, Alfredo M. Terrazas.
People come to the small town of Axtla on day trips from the surrounding area, especially from Xilitla, about 40 minutes to the west. The terrain is crisscrossed by winding green rivers where visitors and residents alike can cool off. It seems like there is some new wonder around every flowery corner and hill.
The proliferation of medicinal plants led a local man, Beto Ramón (1936–2004), to found the Santo Domingo plant laboratory just south of Axtla, in Aguacatitla. Today, the laboratory and the complex surrounding it bear the name of their founder and include a hotel, a restaurant, a church, and the traditional medicine consultation facilities for which it has long been famous. Today it is decorated in rainbow colors, but traditional medicine and Nahuatl knowledge of local flora are well recognized. Beto Ramón said he learned the details of Nahuatl herbalism from his grandmother.
Axtla itself is colorful too. And local tour companies will be happy to lead visitors to the best spots on the surrounding rivers, and into the jungles. Wildlife, nature, and ecological tours are everything here. The Tamul Waterfalls tower from some 105 meters in the air, and the surrounding country hosts dozens of other adventure sites and attractions.
The town is usually reached from Ciudad Valles which is about 90 minutes to the north. Frontera runs regular buses from there to Huichihuayán, another dramatically beautiful little town amidst a great variety of lodgings and little inns. Huichihuayán is about 30 minutes from Axtla de Terrazas.
