Tehuantepec

The town gives its name to the Isthmus , gulf, and railway, of Tehuantepec, and stands about 15 m. from the mouth of the Tehuantepec River . Oaxaca, Oaxaca is about 250 km away, and the nearest city, accessible by rail, is Salina Cruz at a distance of 13 m. It occupies the slope of a hill on the Pacific side of the divide, with a beautiful view of the river valley and the distant sierras to the north. The streets are little more than crooked paths up the hillside, and the habitations are for the most part thatched, mud-walled huts. The population of about 33,500 (1990) is composed almost wholly of Indigenous Zapotec s. The Women are the traders in Tehuantepec and do little menial work. Local industries include the distilling of "caña," a Cane Spirit , and the weaving of cotton fabrics dyed with the juice of a marine shell-fish ('' Purpura Patula '') found on the neighboring coast. Indigo was formerly grown in the vicinity and Cochineal gathered for export, but both of these industries have declined.

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Tehuantepec