Mixtepec comes from the Nahuatl meaning "Hill of Clouds" or "Cloudy Hill" -- mixtli cloud and tpetl hill. It is believed that it once had a Zapotec name, Danicahue, which has the same meaning.
San Pedro Mixtepec is an important town in this region. For one thing, it is the administrative center of a county (municipio) that includes most of Puerto Escondido.
According to the archives, on June 21, 1629, Don Juan de Peralta, in return for "1000 arrobas of cotton (a weight equivalent to 25 pounds) and 1000 pesos," ceded the lands to the people living there. The ceremony was witnessed by the colonial authorities and San Pedro Mixtepec officially became a county.
The 376th anniversary of this milestone will be marked with a civic and cultural program, including a community meal at 6 p.m. in and around the municipal government building.
The annual festivities honoring San Pedro Apóstol will begin on June 27 with the calenda and convite (the traditional parades marking the start of the celebrations) and will continue through July 1.
There will be sports tournaments, cultural presentations, rodeos, dances, and general merriment, plus, of course, the religious observances. The saint's day eve, June 28 is the highlight of the fiesta with the traditional castillo firework display.
San Pedro is a pleasant, well-ordered and clean community that sits on a river and is surrounded by densely wooded and frequently cloudy peaks. It boasts a spectacular tourist attraction: the awesome El Chorro waterfall near the small town of La Reforma. This trip used to be just for the adventurous and the energetic. To get there you had to first take the dirt road (off to the right just past the sign welcoming you to San Pedro Mixtepec) for the half-hour drive to La Reforma. From there it was a two-hour plus walk to get to the falls.
Now there is a passable road (depending on the weather, and the level of the river) almost all the way out to El Chorro. You can still walk or rent a horse to enjoy the beautiful scenery as you follow the path of the river, which you will cross five or six times before arriving at a series of deep, sweet-water pools.
It's the perfect spot for a picnic and a swim before you venture up stream
to the main falls, a magnificent, thunderous cascade of water that plummets
from a height of some 130 feet into a cool fresh water pool, irresistible for
swimming.