Tactic

About Tactic:

The town lies in a valley ringed by hills of the Sierra de Chamá, with the 2,550-metre Xucaneb rising to the north-east. The CA-14 crosses the municipality and runs along the northern edge of town, around kilometre 184 from Guatemala City; the capital is some 185 kilometres away on paved road and Cobán about 30, under half an hour by car, with Tziboney buses running between the two. At San Julián, kilometre 180, the road to El Estor branches east down the Polochic valley towards Lake Izabal, and that junction has become the place where new lotificaciones go up. The municipality itself is small, 85 square kilometres, bordered by Cobán to the north, Santa Cruz Verapaz to the west, Tamahú to the east and the Baja Verapaz municipalities of San Miguel Chicaj, Salamá and Purulhá to the south.

Tactic counts its founding from 2 July 1545, when Dominican friars held the first baptisms here, and it was raised to the rank of villa in 1984. The town is still split into two barrios, Asunción and San Jacinto, and since 1993 it has also been numbered into eight zonas, with almost every street paved. The parish church carries baroque ornament, El Calvario stands on a hill at the west end of town, and on the hilltop of Chi-Ixim a sanctuary built between 1941 and 1960 draws pilgrims from across the country to the Cristo de las Misericordias every 15 January. The main feria, for the Virgin of the Assumption, runs from 11 to 15 August. At the 2018 census the municipality had 38,052 people, most of them Poqomchi’ Maya.

Most families live from the land. Besides the vegetables, the valley keeps dairy herds, with processors such as Veralac, Lácteos Doña Naty and Tactilac, and dairy shops and fruit and vegetable stalls line the highway. Granja Chisac, an egg producer that has been running since 1979 at kilometre 186.8, is one of the main employers. Formal jobs are still scarce, and many local masons and builders go to work in Guatemala City. At weekends visitors come for the cold spring water and pools of Ecocentro Chamché, the waterfalls of Ecocentro Chicán, the Pozo Vivo spring and the remains of the old Poqomchi’ centre at Chicán.

Water shapes the ground here. The Río Cahabón rises at Patal, just east of town, the Polochic rises at Rocjá, and the Pantup runs through Tactic to join the Cahabón. When the Cahabón and the Pantup burst their banks, houses and shops near them flood, and the low land to the north-east, where much of the new housing is going, is the most exposed. Seventy percent of the municipality is broken, hilly ground, and in the long wet, misty season saturated, cleared slopes give way in places such as Chojol, Chacalté, Chiallí, Cuyquel, Chi Ixim and San Julián. Growth has been spontaneous, mostly on former pasture, and the town’s water and drainage systems have not kept up.

Houses in Tactic:

In town, homes are mostly single-family block houses in the barrios and zonas around the centre. A common offer is a modest two-bedroom, one-bathroom house with a living-dining room, kitchen, laundry area and parking for one car, though newer central houses with larger rooms also come up. Out in the aldeas, places like Chiacal have three-bedroom family houses. Before you commit to a house in Tactic, ask how many hours a day the municipal water arrives and whether the house has its own tank, and walk the street after heavy rain if it is anywhere near the Pantup or the Cahabón.

Rentals in Tactic:

Long-term rentals are houses rather than apartments. A larger rental might have four rooms, one of them a maid’s room, three bathrooms and separate living and dining areas. On the highway, warehouse space for production or storage is let as well. Agree in writing who pays water and electricity before you sign.

Land and Lots in Tactic:

Most of the new building land is clustered around San Julián. Colinas de San Julián, at kilometre 179.8, sells lots of 10 by 19 or 10 by 20 metres in a wooded, country setting with power and drinking water, and some resales come with a registered deed free of liens. Other developers there offer smaller 8 by 16 lots on monthly instalments, and Lotificación Tierra del Durazno takes its name from the usual reading of Tactic, land of the peach. The town has older lotificaciones too, such as Villa Florencia, near where the Chamché joins the Cahabón, and El Carmen, beside Ecocentro Chicán. Larger tracts sell by the manzana, such as a two-manzana parcel just past the San Julián junction towards the capital, and whole fincas come up too, like Finca Platanar with its cardamom, coffee, timber and water. If you are after land for sale in Tactic, remember that most of the municipality is rated for forestry, agroforestry or protection rather than intensive crops.

FAQ:

• How far is Tactic from Cobán and Guatemala City?

  Cobán is about 30 kilometres north on the CA-14, under half an hour by car, and buses run between the two towns. Guatemala City is around 185 kilometres south on the same paved highway. The San Julián junction, at kilometre 180, is where you turn off for the Polochic valley and El Estor.

• Which parts of Tactic flood?

  The streets closest to the Río Cahabón and the Río Pantup, and the low ground north-east of town where new housing is spreading. Both rivers flood homes and shops when they overflow. Ask neighbours how high the water has come before you buy there.

• What should I check before buying a lot in a lotificación at San Julián?

  San Julián is one of the places where slopes slide when the soil is saturated, so look at the lot’s gradient, what is above it and how the rain drains off. Then confirm at the property registry that the lot has its own registered finca number and no liens, rather than being a share of the developer’s parent property. Make sure water and power are actually connected, not just promised in the sales brochure.

• Can I buy farmland in Tactic?

  Yes. Land in the aldeas sells by the cuerda or the manzana, and fincas with coffee, cardamom and timber change hands as well. Vegetable growers from outside the municipality buy or rent land here too, so flat, workable fields near a road do not stay on offer for long. Much of the rest is steep ground better suited to forestry, so walk the parcel before you price it as farmland.

• When is Tactic at its busiest?

  On 15 January, when pilgrims climb to the Chi-Ixim sanctuary for the Cristo de las Misericordias, and during the feria for the Assumption from 11 to 15 August. On weekends families stop at the ecocentros and the dairy shops on the highway.