Santiago Ixcuintepec

Santiago Ixcuintepec
Municipality and town
Santiago Ixcuintepec Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 16°56′N 95°37′W
Country	Mexico
State	Oaxaca
Area
• Total	102.07 km2 (39.41 sq mi)
Elevation	800 m (2,600 ft)
Population  (2005)
• Total	1,441
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central Standard Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (Central Daylight Time)

Santiago Ixcuintepec is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It is part of the Sierra Mixe district within the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca Region.

Name

The name "Ixcuintepec" means "Dog Head Hill".

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 102.07 km², with mountainous terrain. The climate is mild and humid.

Flora and fauna

Flora include pine and oak trees, tulip, red and purple bougainvillea, marigolds and rose of Castille flowers. Edible plants include squash, cassava, sweet potatoes, quintanilla and the Guille de chayote leaf and heart, as well as bananas, avocados, mamey, oranges, sapodilla, black sapote, mango and custard pineapple. Wild fauna include peacock, chachalaca, dove blue, toucans, orioles, mockingbirds, roadrunner, boa, deaf adder, coral and scorpion.

Demography

As of 2005, the municipality had 305 households with a total population of 1,441, of which 1,124 spoke an indigenous language. 95% of the people are engaged in agriculture, cultivating maize, beans, wheat, fruits and vegetables. The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region, a cooperative founded in 1982, assists in production and distribution of the local products, under a fair trade label.