vegetation. It conserves much of its distinct architecture such as the Casa del Portal de Madera (House of the Wood Portal and the Candelaria Church, which is one of the main colonial era structures of the Chiapas coast region. Another important structure is the fountain in the center of the main plaza. Near the town is the Finca Rosario Izapa, which is field research station for agriculture, mostly concentrated on studies on cacao and tropical fruits. Cacahoatán is noted for its colorful wooden structures on the border from plantations dedicated to tropical fruit and those dedicated to coffee production in the higher altitudes. Some of these plantations, such as La Palmira offered guided tours. Huehuetán is a town founded during the colonial period as the capital of the Soconusco. Its main church is from this time, today known as the San Pedro Parish, constructed in an austere fashion of adobe. Tuzantán has conserved much of its indigenous identity, populated by ethnic Tuzantecos and Mochos, which are the westernmost Mayan peoples. Their main religious festival is dedicated to the Archangel Michael celebrated in September. Huixtla is the only town on the Chiapas coast which conserves its old train station. The town is surrounded by fields of wild reeds and “La Piedra,” a granite formation, is used to symbolize the area. Acacoyagua was a settlement populated by Japanese immigrants. Nearby is the El Chicol waterfall, which forms deep pools of fresh water surrounded by dense vegetation. Geography and environment Soconusco is a strip of land wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, formed by sediment flowing from the mountains, similar to the rest of the Chiapas coast. However, this area is distinguished because of its history and its economic production. It is the southern section of this state's coast, with its northern border at the Ulapa River. Its southern border used to be the Tilapa River in what is now Guatemala, but when the final border between Mexico and this country was set in 1882, the new southern boundary marker became the Suchiate River. The region has a territory of 5,827 km². The climate and ecology of the region varies with elevation. The coastal lowlands are seasonally dry. They are part of the Central American dry forests ecoregion, characterized by open woodlands and thorn scrub of dry-season deciduous trees and shrubs. At higher elevations the mountains intercept winds