Chapel & Plaza de la Soledad, San Juan Ixtayopan

The Chapel de la Soledad, Solitude, is a beautiful historic chapel in San Juan Ixtayopan, Tláhuac. The chapel is named for the Barrio Soledad which, according to legend, hosted pilgrams on their way from San Miguel Topilejo to Puebla bearing an image of the Virgin. This was in 1770. The painting they carried began to smell more pleasant when they stopped here, and so it has remained ever since.

The following of the Virgin is arguably more important than the reverence paid to the San Juan Bautista, the patron of the main the parish church. Similarly, the Plaza de Soledad, tends to attract more people than the more elaborate town center in and around the San Juan Bautista church.

The plaza is the scene of the annual feast day festivities. The kiosk gets decorated and the fireworks and music are organized here too. Visitors around this time, January 3rd of each year, may also get to see traditional sawdust carpeting bedecked with religious imagery.

The chapel is just south of the main town square on Rio Ameca. Though the chapel is not often open, it still serves as the town’s primary meeting point.