Patzún

About Patzún:

The municipality covers 124 square kilometres on the western side of the department, 30 kilometres from the city of Chimaltenango and 84 from Guatemala City. The main road in turns off the Inter-American at Patzicía, near kilometre 70, runs through town and carries on west to Godínez in Sololá, 16 kilometres above Panajachel. Lake traffic uses it as a shortcut that skips the heavy trucks, but the stretch toward Godínez is known for landslides in the rains, and in 1976 a slide at Los Chocoyos, halfway between the two, buried several houses. Tecpán lies to the north, Patzicía and Santa Cruz Balanyá to the east, Acatenango and Pochuta to the south, and San Lucas Tolimán and San Antonio Palopó, both in Sololá, to the west. Buses leave for Chimaltenango and the capital every half hour, and there is service to Tecpán on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Farming pays the bills. Annual crops take up close to a third of the land, and the export vegetables, mainly snow peas and broccoli, are grown to quality certifications and sold on to packers, some of whom work in the town itself. Maize and beans still cover a large share of the fields, while small growers in El Sitio, Chipiacul and the outskirts have planted avocados, peaches and other deciduous fruit. There is no proper market building for the vegetable trade, so buying and selling spills onto streets and road shoulders, and the centre jams on busy days. Work also takes people away: some leave for the United States and Canada, others for the capital, Chimaltenango or the fields of Patzicía.

The climate is cold, and that shapes what farmland is worth. Frost settles on the flat fields in the north of the municipality and has destroyed potatoes, fava beans and other crops in cold snaps. A lot of sloping land that is now planted was forest land, and its soil wears away under row crops. The whole municipality is highly exposed to landslides, and some neighbourhoods were built where they should not have been: colonia Krakeroy in town and Xeatzán Alto are two of the spots flagged as high risk, and parts of the urban area flood when the river rises.

About 95 per cent of the close to 60,000 people counted in 2018 are Kaqchikel Maya, and Kaqchikel is the everyday language at home, in the school yard and at the health centre. Franciscan friars, who arrived in 1540, built the parish church beside the park, and the town still celebrates San Bernardino de Siena every 20 May. Corpus Christi is the day outsiders come for, when the procession walks over colourful street carpets and under arches covered in pacaya leaves. Beyond the town, El Sitio and Las Camelias each hold more than 3,000 people and Chipiacul nearly as many, and El Sitio works as a second centre with its own shops and schools. Buyers are mostly local families building on land they buy or inherit and growers looking for more vegetable ground.

Houses in Patzún:

Most homes that come up for sale are in the newer zones around the centre, since zones 2 to 7 are where houses and shops have multiplied fastest. Plots are tight. A two-storey house on a lot of about 7 by 11 metres is a common format, and newer four-bedroom builds sit on lots of 10 by 20 metres, sometimes with payment terms offered by the builder. If you are looking at houses for sale in Patzún near the main road, visit on a harvest day, because produce trading can block the street outside. Outside the town, El Sitio and Chipiacul are the two aldeas the municipality has set aside for urban growth, which makes them the next places to look for a finished home.

Land and Lots in Patzún:

House lots are the busiest part of the market. Private subdividers cut farmland on the edge of town into small building plots, some under 150 square metres, and lots are also advertised along the road toward Tecpán and a few minutes outside the centre. Many of these subdivisions went ahead without municipal permits or environmental studies, and for years there were no local rules for them at all. Before you buy one of the lots for sale in Patzún, find out who will provide the water connection, the drainage and the access road, and walk the plot after heavy rain to see where the water runs.

Farmland in Patzún:

Farm parcels range from a few cuerdas around the aldeas to holdings of 200 cuerdas, some sold with their own well. Sellers in Xejolón and elsewhere quote cuerdas of 40 by 40 metres, but the unit varies across the highlands, so get the area in square metres in writing. Water comes first: springs and wells in the municipality are running low, and export vegetables need irrigation through the dry months. Then ask whether the parcel lies on the frost-prone flats in the north and how steep it is, because slopes that were cleared from forest lose soil fast. Parcels already planted with snow peas or broccoli for export sit close to the packers that buy the harvest, which is part of what farmland in Patzún is worth.

FAQ:

• How far is Patzún from Guatemala City and Lake Atitlán?

  Guatemala City is 84 kilometres away and Chimaltenango 30, with the turnoff from the Inter-American at Patzicía. Heading west, the road reaches Godínez, 16 kilometres from Panajachel. Landslides close the Godínez stretch now and then in the rainy season, so check the road before a viewing trip.

• Is a lot in one of the new subdivisions safe to buy?

  Only once you have checked it yourself. Many subdivisions around Patzún were laid out without municipal permits, so ask the municipality whether this one is approved and whether water and drainage will reach it. Then confirm in the property registry that your lot is registered as its own property, not as an undivided share of the seller’s farm, and that it is not in a landslide or flood zone.

• Which aldeas are growing fastest?

  El Sitio, the largest aldea and the municipality’s second centre, and Chipiacul are both marked for urban expansion. Las Camelias is about as populous as El Sitio. Xeatzán Bajo, home to nearly 2,900 people, has piped water, power and an asphalt road.

• Does frost affect farmland here?

  Yes, mainly on the flat land in the north of the municipality, where cold snaps have wiped out potato and fava bean crops. Ask neighbours which fields freeze before you agree a price for farmland.

• What is grown on farmland in Patzún?

  Snow peas and broccoli for export, maize and beans for the household, and on a smaller scale avocados, peaches and other deciduous fruit, especially around El Sitio and Chipiacul.