Aljojuca is a municipio (municipality

Municipalities of Mexico

Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...

) and the name of its seat of municipal government, located in central eastern Puebla

Puebla

Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

It is bordered by the municipalities of San Juan Atenco to the south, Chalchicomula de Sesma

Chalchicomula de Sesma

Chalchicomula of Sesma is a municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla. It is located in the eastern federal state, borders the state of Veracruz. Its municipal seat is Ciudad Serdan . The name of the municipality is of Nahuatl origin and comes from the words chalchihuitl = chalchihuite [2] =...

 (Cd. Serdan) to the southeast, Tlachichuca to the east, San Nicolas, Buenos Aires

San Nicolás, Buenos Aires

San Nicolás is one of the neighbourhoods of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, sharing most of the city and national government structure with neighboring Montserrat and home to much of Buenos Aires' financial sector...

 to the north, and San Salvador El Seco to the west. Nearby is the highest peak of Mexico, Citlaltepetl or Pico de Orizaba

Pico de Orizaba

The Pico de Orizaba, or Citlaltépetl , is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It rises above sea level in the eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, on the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla...

.

Located on the plains of San Andres, Aljojuca was founded in colonial times with its main purpose being the prime grazing lands around the small settlement. It quickly became the most established town between El Seco and San Andres Chalchicomula (now Serdan), providing employment to many of the region's Indian population

Indigenous peoples of Mexico

Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...

. Currently the population numbers approximately 5000 and is distributed in the settlements of Aljojuca, San Miguel Tecuitlapa, and San Antonio Jalapasco. However the numbers continue to fall due to large-scale emigration, especially in recent years.

Local attractions include a 1 km-wide volcanic crater lake

Crater lake

A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not...

, known as the Laguna de Aljojuca, a 19th century church, completed in 1906, a 17th century church, and the ruins of the hacienda Cascantla.