El Tejar

About El Tejar:

El Tejar borders the municipality of Chimaltenango to the north and west, Parramos and Pastores to the south, and Sumpango, Santo Domingo Xenacoj and San Juan Sacatepéquez to the east, so it sits right on the line with the departments of Sacatepéquez and Guatemala. The Inter-American crosses it around kilometre 49, and the aldea of San Miguel Morazán stands beside the highway at kilometre 48.5. Chimaltenango city is five kilometres away. Antigua is a 15 to 20 minute drive, though the entrance to Pastores and the streets of Jocotenango regularly slow it down. Inside the municipality the worst jams build on the main street and on the highway where the turn for El Chipotón meets the road to RN-14, and at the roundabout where the 14-kilometre Chimaltenango bypass, opened in 2019, rejoins the Inter-American.

Unlike most of the department, El Tejar lives from industry and trade rather than from the land. Large plants, some of them foreign-owned, set up here for the highway, and the maquilas that followed gave work to people from across the country, many of whom settled in the town’s colonias. Brickmaking is the older trade. Dozens of kiln towers line the Inter-American and the road that runs south toward Escuintla, mostly family yards where the clay is trodden barefoot, moulded on the patio floor and fired with firewood for up to thirty hours. Most of what they make goes to hardware stores in Antigua, where restorations and neo-colonial houses still call for handmade brick and tile, and trucks come from as far as Petén to load up. Households also weave cotton cloth, build furniture and marimbas, make candles, and plant maize, beans and tomato on what farmland is left.

The town stands at just under 1,800 metres, and most of the ground around it is taken up by housing, commerce and agro-industry. Growth has followed the roads in a line instead of spreading out from a centre. For years, lotificaciones, residenciales and colonias opened without municipal rules on land use, so a quiet street of houses can back onto a warehouse or a kiln yard. The clay pits that once sat beside the kilns ran out more than twenty years ago, and brickmakers now buy their clay from fincas in the north of the municipality, La Loma among them, and haul firewood in from Acatenango and Alotenango. The municipality still holds communal woodland of pine, cypress and matilisguate at Tzanjuyú and in the astilleros of San Miguel Morazán and Santo Domingo, and there are archaeological sites at El Tejar, La Sierra and Tejarcito.

The town was once called San Sebastián El Tejar, and also Tejar de Ortiz, and it already appears by name in a will drawn up in 1567. After independence it was joined with San Lucas Sacatepéquez as San Lucas Tejar, moved from Sacatepéquez to Chimaltenango in 1855, abolished in 1882 and restored as a municipality in 1910. Kaqchikel is the Maya language with the deepest roots here, though fewer parents now pass it on. The fiesta for San Sebastián peaks on 20 January with a procession and costumed dances, and at Easter the Corrida de Ángeles runs through the streets to announce the Resurrection. Outside the town proper, the main settlements are the aldeas of San Miguel Morazán and Santo Domingo El Rosario. Most buyers are families who work in El Tejar’s plants or in Chimaltenango, joined by households that commute to the capital or to Antigua and want a newer house on a gated street.

Houses in El Tejar:

In town, houses sit in colonias such as Villas del Tejar, Residenciales del Tejar, La Pinada and Patricia de Arzú, while San Miguel Morazán has its own cluster of colonias around El Mirador, El Panorama and San Juan de Dios. Much of the newer stock of houses for sale in El Tejar is two storeys with three bedrooms on a 10 × 14 metre lot. There are also small gated condominiums a few minutes from San Lucas Sacatepéquez, and away from the highway older homes on bigger plots, some with gardens and fruit trees, still change hands. Make the drive at rush hour before you decide: a house five minutes from the Inter-American can take far longer to leave when the Chipotón junction backs up. Ask as well which water system serves the colonia, because each one draws from its own wells and tanks.

Rentals in El Tejar:

Factory and maquila jobs keep a steady demand for rentals. Houses inside the newer gated projects are let to families, while in the colonias single rooms and small one-space units with a shared living and kitchen area go to people working nearby. Expect to sign for a year and leave a deposit. Commercial premises on the Inter-American are let too, suited to a showroom, a warehouse or a business that lives from passing traffic. Before you sign, put in writing who pays for water and who answers when the well pump fails.

Land and Lots in El Tejar:

Lot sizes run from the very small to the very large. In San Miguel Morazán, flat lots of 6 × 18 metres sell to families building their first house, and residenciales near the Chimaltenango line offer 11 × 16 lots with shared social areas. Plots of several hundred square metres, some planted with fruit trees, change hands privately. At the far end of the scale, a tract of more than nine hectares opposite Hacienda El Tejar, split into five registered fincas with paved access, power, drainage and a mechanical well, is offered for housing projects. Roadside land is wanted for business, and several brickworks rent their plot on the highway rather than own it. If you are comparing lots for sale in El Tejar, ask whether the subdivision was ever approved by the municipality, since many went ahead without approval, and check that water and drainage really reach your lot.

New Developments in El Tejar:

One of the projects under construction is Hacienda El Tejar, with two-storey houses of 99 and 150 m², each with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, a social hall, and monthly payments made to the developer. In 2025 it was pre-certified under CASA, Guatemala’s sustainable-housing standard. Bosques del Tejar sells more compact three-bedroom houses of 74 m². With any project sold off-plan, find out the date the deed will be signed and registered. Ask, too, who will run the water and the gate once the developer hands over the last house.

FAQ:

• How far is El Tejar from Guatemala City and Antigua?

  The town is 48 km from the capital on the Inter-American, five from Chimaltenango and ten from Antigua. The Antigua run takes 15 to 20 minutes when the entrance to Pastores and Jocotenango are clear. At peak hours, allow extra time for the Chipotón junction and the bypass roundabout.

• Which municipality does a lot on the edge of El Tejar belong to?

  The line with Chimaltenango and Sumpango has never been clearly marked, and some colonias on the edge use El Tejar’s services while paying their taxes to a neighbouring town hall. Before you apply for a building licence or pay IUSI, get the municipality to confirm in writing which side your lot falls on. Then check at the property registry that the lot is its own registered finca in the seller’s name. In a subdivision, also ask whether the municipality approved the plan.

• Where does the water come from?

  In San Miguel Morazán the colonias are served by separate municipal systems, each fed by a well and tanks that cover a set group of streets. Gated projects and large tracts often run on their own mechanical well. Find out which system serves the house and who maintains it.

• Can I buy brick and tile straight from the kilns?

  Yes. The brickworks along the highway sell directly to anyone who stops, as well as to resellers, and prices are agreed per piece with the owner. Buying at the kiln costs far less than in an Antigua hardware store. Strength varies from one yard to another, so look at the finished pieces before you order a full load.

• What kind of property is easiest to find here?

  Two-storey family houses in gated projects and lots in subdivisions make up most of what changes hands. Rooms and small units for rent are common in the colonias near the factories. Farmland is scarce, because most of the municipality is already houses, commerce and industry.