Rabinal

About Rabinal:

Rabinal occupies a depression in the Sierra de Chuacús, in the middle of Baja Verapaz. Cubulco lies to the west, San Miguel Chicaj to the east, Salamá to the south-east and Santa Cruz El Chol and Granados to the south, while the Río Negro, the Chixoy, marks the northern edge against Uspantán in Quiché. The departmental capital is 28 kilometres away and Guatemala City about 175, all of it paved: the CA-9 to El Rancho, the CA-14 north, the turn at the Santa Elena summit for San Jerónimo and Salamá, then west through San Miguel Chicaj. A shorter dirt road crosses the mountains to the south through El Chol and Granados, and the paved road carries on west to Cubulco. The municipality counts 28 aldeas and 50 caseríos, and nearly all the roads out to them are dirt, which gets harder going once the rains start.

Thursday and Sunday are market days, and they set the rhythm of the place. Villages 10 to 18 kilometres out come into town mainly on those two days, while those closer in make the trip several times a day by microbus or mototaxi. The town has dozens of small ceramics and textile workshops turning out red and brown clay ollas, comales and cántaros, and potters and weavers also work in Pichec, La Ceiba, San Rafael and Chiac. Out in the aldeas the picture changes by area: maize and beans in the dry villages of Nimacabaj, Pachicá, Pachalum, Chiticoy and Palimonix, tomato greenhouses in Panacal, Raxjut, Chixim and Xesiguán, coffee at Chichupac, 16 kilometres from town, and citrus around San Rafael, Chissaliá and Guachipilín. More than 33,000 residents identify as Maya, nearly all of them Achi’.

The valley is warm and dry, part dry subtropical forest, and several of its villages sit inside Guatemala’s Dry Corridor. Eighteen rivers cross the municipality, the Rabinal and the Saj-Cap among them, and they run high in the rainy season and low in the dry one. The town’s water comes from springs at Finca Las Cañas, Cabrera, Cerro Caritas, San Luis, Guachipilín and Chiticoy, and illegal logging in the hills above them is a real threat to supply, which is why the municipality has been reforesting the upper slopes. Outside town, each village runs its own system through a comité de agua that sets the fee. Steep slopes and ravines take up much of the land, so flat ground close to a working water line is scarce, and buyers pay for it.

Bartolomé de las Casas and Pedro de Angulo founded the town as San Pablo Rabinal in 1537, which makes it one of the oldest in the Verapaces. Its feria for San Pablo runs through the second half of January and peaks on the 25th, when the Rabinal Achí is staged after days of ceremonies in which the cofradías watch over the masks. The early 1980s left deep marks: more than 5,000 people from the municipality were killed or disappeared, and the Museo Comunitario de la Memoria Histórica in town, founded by widows and orphans, keeps their record. Colonia Pacux, in Rabinal, was built to resettle families from Río Negro when the Chixoy reservoir flooded their land. Today a community tourism group takes visitors to the workshops and to sacred hilltop sites such as Kajyub’ and Chwitinamit, where Achi’ spiritual guides still leave offerings.

Houses in Rabinal:

The town is laid out in numbered zonas, and the older houses sit in zonas 1 and 4, around the church of San Pablo, the municipal building and the central park. The typical one is a single-storey adobe-and-block house on a generous plot, with a patio, a pila and sometimes colonial touches such as a fireplace or balconies. Because the bus terminal, the banks and the plaza are a few hundred metres away, some of them sell as much for a shop or office as for a family. Newer two-storey block houses also come up in zona 1, and some owners rent out houses or single rooms near the centre instead of selling. If you are looking at houses for sale in Rabinal built in adobe, look hard at the walls and ask when the roof was last redone.

Land and Lots in Rabinal:

Land is the busiest part of the market. The caserío of Corralabaj, about four kilometres from the centre near the Nueva Esperanza school, has become the main spot for new lotificaciones, with 15-by-25-metre lots and smaller 7-by-15 lots where water is already connected and power is on the way. In zona 3, lots ready to build are sold with registered deeds and payment plans. Further out, families sell larger parcels with a few pines on them, some reached only on foot from the nearest road, and some sellers will take a car or motorbike as part of the price. Before you commit to a lot in an aldea, drive the road in September as well as in March.

FAQ:

• How far is Rabinal from Guatemala City?

  About 175 kilometres on paved road, by way of El Rancho, Salamá and San Miguel Chicaj. Salamá, the departmental capital, is 28 kilometres east. A dirt road south through El Chol and Granados is shorter on the map but slower.

• When is the Rabinal Achí performed?

  On 25 January, the main day of the feria of San Pablo, which fills the second half of the month. The days before bring ceremonies with the masks and a parade of traditional dances through town, so expect the centre to be packed that week.

• What should I check on a lot in a new lotificación?

  Lotificaciones around Corralabaj and zona 3 advertise deeds, but the question is whether your lot has been split off and registered on its own or is still a fraction of the developer’s larger finca. Ask for the registration details of your specific lot and check them at the property registry, and confirm in writing who connects the water and power and by when.

• Is water reliable in Rabinal?

  In town the municipality runs the supply from mountain springs, but those springs depend on forest that is being cut, and the dry villages feel every weak rainy season. In the aldeas, ask which comité de agua serves the plot, what it charges and whether the system has room for one more house.

• Can I reach the villages all year?

  Most of them, but almost every road beyond the town is dirt, and some get rough in the rainy months. Families 10 to 18 kilometres out often come in only on market days, which tells you how long the trip is. If the lot is out there, the shop and the school are too.