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Sheepishly hoping for a handout, a dog stands in front of Rodriguez Meat Market in Pinotepa. Strips of meat hanging from a wooden dowl in the window, not the most healthy establishment to want to go meat shopping.

Located on the coastal Hwy 200 (Carretera Costera) 90 miles west of Puerto Escondido is the town of Pinotepa Nacional. The 25,000 residents are mostly Mestizos with surrounding areas of mostly indigenous people dominated by the Mixtec with Amusgo and Chatino Indians as well. Pinotepa comes from the Aztec words pinolli (crumbling) and tepetl (mountain). It used to be called Pinotepa Royal, but this wasn't appropriate after the revolution so it was changed to Pinotepa Nacional. To the Mixtec, Pinotepa has always been called Ñíí Yu-uku, meaning place of salt.
The coastal highway becomes Avenida Porfirio Diaz in town. There us a market about a mile west of the zócalo behind the secondary school and is most active on Wednesday and Sunday. The native women wear brightly colored pozahuancos, which can be found for sale in the market. Other items may include snakes, iquanas, and wild fruits. There is also some market activity adjacent to the zócalo itself. During Easter week, there are celebrations and parades with fireworks, and dancing on Easter Sunday. On July 25, another fiesta celebrates Pinotepa's patron, St. Santiago.

During colonial times, its name was Pinotepa del Rey, and just after Independence, it was called Pinotepa del Estado. It is located at a height of 200 m above sea level in the Mixteca de la Costa region of the state.

The region has an interesting history. A high percentage of its population is of African ancestry. There are two historical theories of how this came about. The first is that during the colonial period African slaves were brought to this area to work on the various haciendas here. The second theory is that these people are the descendants of Africans destined for the slave trade whose ship wrecked off the coast of Oaxaca. This is also the home of a notorious bandit by the name of Silverio Petatán, who was captured and executed in 1864. Because of his boss-eye and colourful language, the bandit’s head was brought to the town and put on public display for a number of days.

The town has a reputation for being rowdy and full of parties. It is one of the few areas of Mexico with a significant population of people of African descent. It is also noted for crafts such as knitted items, embroidered items, and, in particular, knives, machetes and saddle-making. It is also the host town for the UTM annual wife hunt event, where lonely desperate men from neighbouring municipalities come to try and charm a spouse with limited Spanish but flashy boots.

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