Guastatoya

About Guastatoya:

The municipality covers 262 square kilometres of the dry middle valley of the Motagua. San Agustín Acasaguastlán and Morazán lie to the north, El Jícaro to the east, Sansare to the south and Sanarate to the west. The town itself sits on the río Guastatoya just off the Atlantic highway, and the Parque Acuático Guastatoya, at kilometre 73.5, marks the turn into it. Local bus lines run between the town and the capital by way of Sanarate from early morning until early evening, and the long-distance buses on the CA-9 stop here as well. A paved road climbs six kilometres from town to aldea Santa Rita. Every other aldea, from El Subinal, Las Morales and Tierra Blanca to Casas Viejas, Palo Amontonado and El Naranjo, is reached on dirt roads.

Being the departmental capital sets the rhythm of the town. The Gobernación faces the parque central in Barrio Las Joyas, the municipalidad is in Barrio El Calvario, and CUNPROGRESO, the University of San Carlos campus for El Progreso, is in Barrio El Porvenir. The Hospital Nacional, an IGSS clinic and several private sanatoriums serve the whole department. The municipality runs its own electricity company and owns Club Deportivo Guastatoya, which won the Liga Nacional in the Clausura 2018, the Apertura 2018 and the Apertura 2020 and plays at the Estadio David Cordón Hichos. In mid-January the feria for the Señor de Esquipulas takes over the town, with jaripeos, cockfights and carreras de cintas, and the 15th is the big day.

This is one of the driest corners of Central America, all thorn scrub and cactus on thin, poor soils. Farming hugs the flats along the Motagua and the río Guastatoya, where growers raise tomatoes, chiles, cucumbers, watermelons, melons and papaya. In the lower aldeas the cash crop is lime: at Palo Amontonado, 86 lime growers share an irrigation unit that MAGA put back into service. The upper aldeas, Santa Rita, San Rafael, Anshagua, El Infiernillo, El Naranjo and La Campana, are noticeably milder and hold what is left of the municipality’s forest. Town water is pumped from wells and rationed by sector, which is why a house’s cistern matters here as much as its number of bedrooms.

About 27,000 people live in the municipality, and a large share of them live in the town. The 1976 earthquake flattened Guastatoya, so most of what stands today went up after it, in block with concrete slabs or zinc roofs. The urban barrios and colonias include El Porvenir, Las Joyas, El Calvario, Nuevo Amanecer, La Asunción and Nueva Vida. Buyers are mostly local families, people who work in the hospital, the schools and the government offices, and households with relatives working in the capital or the United States. Many young graduates still leave for Guatemala City to find work in their field.

Houses in Guastatoya:

Most homes are block houses in the barrios close to the centre. One house in El Porvenir has 150 square metres of construction on a lot of 10 by 18.75 metres, and newer three-bedroom houses with a patio and parking for two cars turn up in the colonias around it. Residenciales Peñón de la Sierra is a gated development where finished and remodelled houses come up for resale, and there are narrower 5 by 20 metre houses for sale just across from its entrance. In the smaller lotificaciones you will also find houses on lots of around 130 square metres with a second floor added later. When you look at houses for sale in Guastatoya, ask the neighbours how many days a week the water reaches that street and check that the cistern is big enough to cover the gaps.

Rentals in Guastatoya:

Renting is mostly a town-centre affair. Houses come up for rent in Barrio El Porvenir and Nuevo Amanecer, from three-bedroom family homes with garage space for three cars to a three-level house with its own cistern and roof terrace. Tenants include hospital and government staff posted to the departmental capital, teachers, and students at CUNPROGRESO. A few houses are also let furnished.

Land and Lots in Guastatoya:

The road to Santa Rita is where most new lots are being sold. Condado Santa Rita offers 10 by 19 metre lots with water, power and drainage, five minutes from the centre and about 500 metres from the Hospital Nacional. Lotificación La Colina, on the same road, sells 10 by 20 metre lots on developer financing with a modest down payment and no bank involved, and other projects nearby sell 8 by 16, 8 by 18 and 9 by 20 metre plots on the same terms. Closer to the highway, flat 10 by 20 metre lots sit in the strip of warehouses and yards 200 metres off the CA-9. For larger land for sale in Guastatoya, there are parcels such as 10 manzanas at kilometre 75, two kilometres past the town, sold with a registered survey plan, or 5,000 square metres at kilometre 77 on the turn toward Santa Rita.

Warehouses and Commercial Land in Guastatoya:

The highway edge of town has its own market for bodegas and yards. One property on offer combines two adjoining parcels totalling close to 30,000 square metres with a 1,540 square metre warehouse already built. Smaller flat lots in the same strip suit workshops, storage or a roadside business. Before you pay for frontage on the CA-9, ask the municipality what it will license on the plot and how much of it falls inside the highway right of way.

FAQ:

• I am paying for a lot on the Santa Rita road in instalments. When is it actually mine?

  Most lotificaciones here sell on their own financing, and until the last payment you usually hold a promesa de compraventa, not a deed. Ask for the promise to be signed before a notary and noted against the developer’s finca at the property registry, and check whether that finca carries a mortgage that could outlive your payments. Find out in writing when the escritura will be signed and who pays for it. If the developer cannot show the registered survey plan for the whole lotificación, wait.

• How far is Guastatoya from Guatemala City?

  It is 73 to 75 kilometres up the CA-9, depending on where in town you start. Local buses run to the capital through Sanarate from early morning, and buses on the Atlantic highway pass through all day. Sanarate is the next town toward the capital, and El Rancho and Zacapa lie further east.

• Is water a problem in Guastatoya?

  Coverage reaches almost every house, but supply is rationed by sector because the wells cannot keep up in a valley this dry. A house with a large cistern or an elevated tank lives very differently from one without. On farmland, water decides what you can grow: the irrigated lime orchards around Palo Amontonado and the river flats are worth far more than dry hillside.

• Should I buy in the centre or up toward Santa Rita?

  The centre puts you within walking distance of the parque central, the market, schools and the government offices. Santa Rita and the road leading up to it are milder, newer and closer to the Hospital Nacional, and the road is paved all the way. Most of the newer lotificaciones are on that side, so it is where you will find a plot to build on.

• What is there to do in Guastatoya?

  The Parque Acuático at the entrance to town opens Wednesday to Sunday. The río Guastatoya and the parque central are the other everyday draws, and the Pecho Amarillos play their home matches at the David Cordón Hichos. The January feria for the Señor de Esquipulas is the busiest week of the year.