Amecameca is a municipality located in the eastern panhandle of Mexico State between Mexico City and the Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl volcanos of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is located on federal highway 115 which leads to Cuautla, which is called the Volcano Route (Ruta de los Volcanes). The area receives many visitors during the annual Carnival/Festival del Señor del Sacromonte, which extends over the week containing Ash Wednesday and is considered to be one of the most important festivals in Mexico State.
The name Amecameca comes from Nahuatl. It has been interpreted to mean “place where the papers signal or mark,” or “paper used ceremoniously.”
History
Settled human habitation in this area began early mostly in dispersed small villages. The Chichimeca tribe called the Totolimpanecas arrived around 1268 and populated the areas now known as Itztlacozauhcan, Tlayllotlacan Amaquemecan. Later arrivals occupied areas known as Tzacualtitlan Tenanco Amaquemecan and Atlauhtlan Tzacualtitlan Amaquemecan. These groups had their own small dominions. In 1336, another dominion called Tlaylloltlacan Teohuacan was formed. All these communities were collectively known as the Amaquemecans. Religious practices in this area were mostly performed in urban temples and shrines located on mountaintops and caves. In 1465, the Aztecs conquered this area, along with the rest of the Valley of Chalco, replacing local leaders with military governors and transforming the area into a tributary province with neighboring Tlalmanalco as capital.
In the 2000s, Grupo Walmart in Mexico began to construct a supermarket (Bodega Aurrerá) in the old section of Amecameca but INAH suspended construction. The reason for the suspension was that it would cover nearly a city block and damage older buildings protected by the federal agency.
Geography
thumb|View of Iztaccíhuatl from the Sacromonte
As municipal seat, the town of Amecameca is the local governing authority for more than 130 other named communities, which over an area of 181.72km<sup>2</sup>. The area has an eruption warning system of three colors—red, yellow and green—which depend on the status of Popocatepetl. Green means that the volcano is quiet, yellow that there is activity and caution is advised and red indicates a current or imminent eruption. When the status turns to yellow, tourism to the area plummets to about half normal.
There is some industry there, which employs about a third of the workforce. The main ones are Los Molinos de la Covadonga, La Harinera Amecameca, Hilos Cadena, which produced milled products and thread. In addition, there are small workshops which produce saddles, ironwork and machine pieces. Most commerce occurs in the municipal seat, mostly with the sale of staple foods and other basic necessities. Market days are Monday, Wednesday and Sunday when the town is covered in portable stalls in a tradition called the tianguis. In addition, there are several hotels and other businesses that cater to tourists. This sector of the economy employ about 45% of the municipality's population.
Another major attraction is the Bosque de los Arboles de Navidad (Christmas Tree Forest), one of the few places in Mexico where one can go and cut their own tree. The Bosque plants trees such as the "vikingo mexiquense" and the "vikingo canadiense" coming here has become a tradition for many families in the Mexico City area. It is a business that was conceived forty years ago as a way to help preserve the forest here as well as benefit economically. Visitors come to spend a day in the area and can cut trees only from designated locations. Picnicking is permitted with the requirement that no garbage is left behind. The Christmas tree area covers 300 acres (120 hectares), and cut trees are left to regrow instead of being killed. The park also hosts food stalls and a Christmas market, selling about 30,000 trees per year and employing 50 permanent and 250 seasonal workers. The money earned from the enterprise helps to preserve more wild areas of the mountains here. This work has earned a Premio Nacional de Ecología (National Ecology Prize). The only problem the forest experiences is that the enterprise is so popular that the roads leading to the area are jammed with traffic.
Lesser-known attractions include the Eco Parque San Pedro, the Temazcal Park and the Agua Viva monastery. The Eco Parque San Pedro (San Pedro Ecological Park) is located between the Amecameca and Nexpayantla rivers just outside the municipal seat in the community of San Pedro Nexapa. It stands at 2870 meters above sea level, very close to the Puebla state line and has a cold, wet climate. The park is between the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanos near the Cortés Pass. The park was created as a way to manage and preserve the natural resources of the area. It is a recreational area for sports such as hiking and also contains the second largest labyrinth of its type in the world created with over 38,000 cedar trees over an extension of 10,000 m<sup>2</sup>. There is also a "zoo" of sculpted plants made to form animals using plants native to the area. The Temazcal Park is a natural area with dirt and stone paths. It contains a variety of pine trees and medicinal plants and is home to white tailed deer, foxes and other wildlife. Activities available here are hiking, mountain biking, camping and other nature sports. The Agua Viva (Living Water) monastery is a Dominican institution located at the foothills of Iztaccíhuatl. There are still monks here that offer mass. The Cortés Pass is located 30 minutes from the town, which is a space between the two volcanoes and from where Cortés had his first view of the Valley of Mexico.