The bustling heart of Papantla, there always seems to be something going on in or around this zócalo terraced into the hillside – head here on Friday evenings to watch or take part in the danzón when a live band serenades dancers. Facing the square is a symbolic 50m-long bas relief mural, designed by Papantla artist Teodoro Cano in 1979 and depicting Totonac and Veracruz history.
A serpent stretches along the mural, bizarrely linking a pre-Hispanic stone carver, El Tajín’s Pirámide de los Nichos, and an oil rig.