San Juan Lachao is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

in south-western

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is part of the

Juquila District Juquila District is located in the center of the Costa Region, Oaxaca, Costa Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, on the Pacific coast. It has an area of 5,055 km2. As of 2005 it had a total population of 134,365 of whom 33,106 spoke an in ...

in the center of the

Costa Region The Costa Region or Costa Chica lies on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, south of the more mountainous Sierra Sur inland from the coast. It includes the districts of Jamiltepec, Juquila and Pochutla. Climate The region has a ...

Geography

The municipality covers 190.1 km² of hilly land. The town is at an elevation of 60 meters above sea level. The climate is mild and humid. Local flowers include cartucho,

gladiolus ''Gladiolus'' (from Latin, the diminutive of ''gladius'', a sword) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). It is sometimes called the 'sword lily', but is usually called by its generic name (plural ''g ...

, marigold,

bougainvillea ''Bougainvillea'' ( , ) is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the family, Nyctaginaceae. They are native to Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Argentina. There are between 4 and 22 species in the genus. The i ...

, roses and geraniums. The area is well-wooded, with pine, oak, avocado, macuil, cedar, and guanacaxtle cuachepil. Mangoes, plums, bananas, oranges, limes and avocados provide fruit. Local birds include chachalaca, white-winged dove, pigeon blue, red Palamo, real peak, quail, magpie, woodpecker and parakeet. Wild boar, deer, badger, raccoon, squirrel, body spin, opossums, skunks and foxes are found in the forests, and iguana and rattlesnake are also present.

Population

As of 2005, the municipality had 739 households with a total population of 3,936 of whom 1,825 spoke an indigenous language. Some of the people speak the

Chatino language Chatino is a group of indigenous Mesoamerican languages. These languages are a branch of the Zapotecan family within the Oto-Manguean language family. They are natively spoken by 45,000 Chatino people, whose communities are located in the sou ...

, a remote branch of the Zapotecan family spoken only in the Juquila district.

Economy

The majority of the population is engaged in growing corn and beans. The

Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Uni ...

, a cooperative founded in 1982, assists in production and distribution of the local products under a fair trade or organic label.

References

{{Juquila District Municipalities of Oaxaca This town celebration is from January 19,20,21 y 22. Celebration of Dulce señor Jesus. The tradicional dance of the celebration is called baile del huajolote.