La Gomera

About La Gomera:

La Gomera lies on the coastal plain in the south of Escuintla department, 35 metres above the sea, with Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa to the north, La Democracia to the east, Nueva Concepción to the west and Sipacate to the south. The town is 111 km from Guatemala City and 57 km from the departmental capital: the CA-9 toll motorway to Escuintla, the CA-2 west, then the paved road south through La Democracia. The same road carries on for about 20 km to Sipacate, so anyone heading for that stretch of coast drives through La Gomera. Extra-urban buses run between the south coast and the capital, while most outlying communities are still reached by dirt roads.

The town dates from 1611, when the president of the Audiencia, Antonio Peraza de Ayala y Rojas, Count of La Gomera, moved Spanish settlers out of Zapotitlán and founded a new villa named after his title. That makes it one of the oldest towns in the department, and it explains why a Guatemalan town shares its name with a Canary island. In 1902 it lived from maize, bananas, rubber and cattle. Today sugar cane covers more than four-fifths of the municipality, followed by banana and plantain, African palm, maize, beans and cattle, and the zafra from November to May sets the rhythm of work for much of the year.

The land is flat, hot and fertile, which is why so little of it is left uncultivated. La Gomera sits in the lower basin of the Coyolate to the west and the Acomé to the east, the river locals also call the río de La Gomera. Flooding is the hazard that matters most: when the Acomé rises it damages houses, shops and bridges, and in the rainy season the main streets of the town fill with water after heavy storms. Drinking water comes from wells, and in the dry months the water table drops as the cane fields draw on it. For a buyer, that means two questions on every visit: where does the water go in October, and how deep is the well in March?

More than 50,000 people live in the municipality, roughly a quarter of them in the town itself, which is split into barrios and colonias such as Barrio San Diego, Primero de Mayo, Costa Rica, Las Marías and El Porvenir. Chipilapa, two kilometres away on a paved road and already served by piped water and drainage, works as an extension of the town. Twenty kilometres west, across the Coyolate, Cerro Colorado has its own health post, a secondary school and a market day, and it anchors the aldeas and parcelamientos on that side, including Las Cruces and Texcuaco. Most buyers are local families and people whose work is tied to the farms and the town’s commerce, and the town has spread faster than its streets and drainage have been planned.

Houses in La Gomera:

The housing stock is mostly single-storey block houses on narrow urban lots, with two to four bedrooms and, on the busier streets, a shop or a workshop at the front. You find them in the older barrios around the parque central and in colonias such as Las Marías, La Condesa and Primero de Mayo, as well as in lotificaciones like Castellanos and Brisas del Valle. Banks also sell repossessed homes here from time to time. When you compare houses for sale in La Gomera, ask how the street behaved in the last rainy season and whether the house runs on the municipal network or on its own well.

Rentals in La Gomera:

Renting here means a whole house in a colonia, a room, or a small flat with air conditioning, almost always let monthly. Some houses in the colonias have room for a motorbike but not a car, so if you need parking, ask before you visit. Check who pays the water and electricity, and whether the water runs all day in the dry season.

Land and Lots in La Gomera:

Most new supply comes as lotificaciones on flat former farmland at the edge of town. Prados del Río sells serviced lots, and Prados del Río Sur sits on the road towards Sipacate. Lots run from about 8 by 16 metres up to 10 by 20, the media cuerda local buyers talk about, and the better projects deliver paved streets, drainage, power connections and a guarded gate. Developers sell with a small down payment and in-house financing over four to ten years, which is what makes lots for sale in La Gomera reachable for local families. Before signing, find out whether the lot has been legally segregated from the mother parcel and whether drainage is already built or only promised.

Farms and Agricultural Land in La Gomera:

Outside town, almost everything is farmland, and it is sold by the manzana or, for whole estates, by the caballería. Offers run from tracts of twenty or thirty manzanas up to entire cane estates of more than a hundred caballerías. Over a third of the municipality is rated as land fit for farming without major limits on slope, depth or drainage, which is why cane, banana and palm dominate. If you are buying to farm, ask about irrigation rights and wells, any current lease to a sugar mill, and which parts of the property lie near the Acomé or the Coyolate.

FAQ:

• Is La Gomera on the beach?

  Not any more. In October 2015 Congress made Sipacate a municipality of its own, taking with it the coastline and the aldeas of El Paredón Buena Vista, La Empalizada and Rama Blanca. La Gomera is now an inland town about 20 km from the sea. Beach houses still advertised under its name are, in practice, in Sipacate.

• Does La Gomera flood?

  Parts of it do. Floods are the main natural hazard in the municipality, most of them caused by the Acomé, and communities close to the Acomé and the Coyolate face the highest exposure. In town the problem is rainwater: the main streets flood in heavy storms during the rainy season. Visit a property after a downpour if you can, and stay clear of land on the riverbanks.

• What should I check before buying land or a lot here?

  Start with the date. Anything registered before October 2015 near the southern edge of the municipality may now fall in Sipacate, so confirm which municipality collects the IUSI and would issue a building licence. In lotificaciones, make sure the developer holds title to the mother parcel and that your lot has been segregated and registered at the property registry, not just promised on a payment plan. In the parcelamientos, check that the parcel was fully titled to the seller and is free of encumbrances.

• How far is La Gomera from Guatemala City?

  About 111 km. The route takes the CA-9 toll motorway to Escuintla, the CA-2 west and then the paved road south through La Democracia. Extra-urban buses link the town with the capital and the rest of the south coast.

• Is water a problem in the dry season?

  It can be. Homes depend on groundwater through municipal and private wells, and in the dry months the water table falls while the cane fields are irrigated. Ask how deep the well is, whether it has ever run dry and whether the house has a tank.