Chiantla

About Chiantla:

Chiantla begins where Huehuetenango ends. The municipal seat, the Villa de Chiantla, lies six or seven kilometres north of the departmental capital and 270 kilometres from Guatemala City, at the foot of the Cuchumatanes. San Juan Ixcoy borders it to the north, Aguacatán and the department of Quiché to the east, San Sebastián Huehuetenango and Todos Santos Cuchumatán to the west, and Huehuetenango to the south. From town the road climbs twelve kilometres to the Mirador Juan Diéguez Olaverri at 3,300 metres, named for the poet who wrote A los Cuchumatanes, then crosses the plateau to aldea Paquix, where it splits for Todos Santos and for San Juan Ixcoy and Soloma. A second asphalt road leaves Buenos Aires eastward through Aguacatán to Sacapulas. The town has its own urban buses and microbuses, and pick-ups carry people, animals and produce out to the aldeas.

Silver brought the Spaniards. In 1540 the encomienda went to Juan de Espinar, who found veins of silver and lead, and the town grew around the Mercedarian mission of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria; the present church went up in 1772. Its image is the Virgen de Plata, named for the silver-embossed mantle that, the town says, Spanish miners gave in thanks, and from 28 January to 2 February pilgrims from across the department fill the streets around the church. Chiantla was briefly the capital of the department, from 1881 to 1885, and the palacio municipal dates from 1887. Nine in ten residents are ladino, Holy Week brings a staging of the Passion, and the old centre is split into five cantones: Parroquia, San Jerónimo, Cementerio, Calvario and La Lagunita.

The farm economy changes with height. On the high ground families live off potatoes, sheep and forest, and lamb has its own fair, the Feria del Cordero. The middle slopes hold the irrigation, 899 hectares of it, and that is where vegetables for export are grown. At Chancol, between 3,000 and 3,500 metres, frost restricts what can be planted, which is why the 504 families who bought 15,226 hectares of the old Chancol hacienda in 1955 kept pasture and forest in common and gave each member only a small parcel for a house and crops; the Comunidad Ganadera de Chancol still runs it. The Río Selegua rises in aldea Sibilá, and Laguna Magdalena and the Río Quisil draw walkers onto the plateau.

Chiantla had 90,376 inhabitants in 2018, and more than nine in ten live outside the town, spread across 33 aldeas and well over a hundred cantones and caseríos. Building has spread fast onto farmland around the town, yet the urban area is still small next to the countryside. Half of all homes have adobe walls and a third are block, and nearly three households in four have no sewer connection. Zona 5 pulls in buyers from Huehuetenango as well as Chiantla because it sits between the two, while in the aldeas land mostly passes between neighbours and relatives.

Houses in Chiantla:

Most homes in the Villa are family-built, adobe or block, under tile or metal roofs. The larger ones near the centre sit on generous lots: a four-bedroom, four-bathroom house with parking for two can stand on 440 square metres. Newer houses in zona 5 are block, on narrow residencial lots. When you compare houses for sale in Chiantla, ask whether the house is on the sewer or a septic tank, and whether the water comes from the municipal line, a public tap or a private well.

Land and Lots in Chiantla:

Lots come in three kinds. In zona 5, Residencial Buenos Aires sells flat, fully urbanised lots of 8 by 16 metres with a deed. Closer to the centre, plots five blocks from the parque sell on their view down the valley, and urban parcels of nearly 2,000 square metres come up for anyone building bigger. Out in aldea Buenos Aires and beyond, larger tracts are sold by the cuerda, some as big as ninety cuerdas, with water and power available. Before you look at land for sale in Chiantla up on the plateau, find out whether the parcel lies inside a community holding like Chancol.

New Developments in Chiantla:

New building here means small residenciales and groups of new houses on the edge of town and in zona 5. The selling point you will hear most is a project’s own well and plenty of water, which says a lot about what buyers worry about. Expect block houses on compact lots, with water from the project’s well rather than the municipal line. Before you reserve, ask who will own and run that well once the developer is gone, and where the drainage ends up.

FAQ:

• How far is Chiantla from Huehuetenango?

  The Villa is six or seven kilometres north of the departmental capital, and zona 5 runs right up to it, so for many residents the commute is a short bus or microbus ride. From Chiantla the road continues up into the Cuchumatanes towards Todos Santos and San Juan Ixcoy, and from Buenos Aires another road heads east to Aguacatán and Sacapulas.

• What should I check before buying land on the Chancol plateau?

  Start with who actually owns the ground. Since 1955 the Comunidad Ganadera de Chancol has held its pasture and forest collectively, with members holding rights to small house and crop parcels, so a plot offered up there may be a member’s right within the community rather than a finca of its own. Ask the community and the seller which it is, and have a notary pull the certificate from the Segundo Registro de la Propiedad in Quetzaltenango, where Huehuetenango property is recorded. If the land lies towards Cantinil, remember that Unión Cantinil split from Chiantla in 2005, so an older deed may still place it in Chiantla.

• Where does the water come from?

  It depends on the street. In town the municipality pipes water, but across the municipality more households draw from a public tap or from a pipe outside the house than have water inside, and some rely on springs or rainwater, which runs shorter in the dry months. Rural neighbours guard their springs closely, so ask which source feeds the property and whether the supply is shared. Most homes outside the centre have no sewer, so budget for a septic system if you build.

• What can I grow on farmland in Chiantla?

  Height decides. On the plateau around Chancol, frost limits farming to potatoes and pasture for sheep, while the irrigated middle slopes grow vegetables for export. If you are buying to farm, ask whether the parcel has a share in an irrigation system, because irrigated land is a small fraction of the municipality.

• What is Chiantla like during the Candelaria fiesta?

  Busy. From 28 January to 2 February pilgrims come to the church of the Virgen de Plata, and stalls line the streets outside the sanctuary. If you are viewing a house near the church, go once during the fiesta and once on an ordinary week to see both faces of the street.