Unión Cantinil

About Unión Cantinil:

The municipality covers 43 square kilometres of mountain country in the Cuchumatanes. Santiago Petatán lies to the north, Todos Santos Cuchumatán to the east, San Pedro Necta to the south and San Antonio Huista to the west, and the río Ocho and the río Chanjón mark stretches of the boundary. Huehuetenango city is a little over 70 kilometres away and Guatemala City 306. The usual way in leaves the Inter-American Highway at Camojá and climbs through San Antonio Huista; the other comes over the mountains from Todos Santos. Most roads from the town out to the aldeas are dirt, and Tajumuco, the largest aldea, is 27 kilometres and around 80 minutes from the centre.

Most of the land is farmed, and coffee is the main crop, grown on small family plots. AAPICUC, the beekeepers’ and coffee growers’ association set up here in 2013, now groups more than two hundred smallholders from across the area and sells organic, Fairtrade coffee grown between 1,200 and 2,000 metres. Coffee cooperatives also work out of the aldeas La Esperanza and Tajumuco. When the coffee price drops, the whole town feels it. For years the answer has been to leave, first for the south coast and the Huista valley and now mostly for the United States. The town centre carries the rest of the local economy: a permanent market, bank branches, small manufacturing and coffee processing, a health centre and a university extension.

The town is built on a slope, with steep mountains close on every side, so there is very little flat ground left to grow into. It has grown quickly and without a plan, and you can see it in the tight streets, the missing pavements and the lack of a proper bus terminal. Farming has cleared almost all of the original forest, and in the rainy season the bare hillsides slide. La Tejera, La Esperanza and Los Chuj are among the places where landslides have damaged houses, roads and coffee. The dirt roads have no ditches or retaining walls, so every wet season leaves gullies and washed-out sections behind.

Unión Cantinil’s past is not like its neighbours’. Until 1884 the area was empty mountain; that year President Justo Rufino Barrios gave it to the Chiantla battalion, and it was registered as the aldea of Cantinil, a name taken from the cantil, a venomous snake said to have lived in its caves and rivers. Getting to Chiantla was so difficult that residents eventually pushed for separation, and Decree 54-2005 made the place Guatemala’s 332nd municipality on 11 August 2005. The population is overwhelmingly ladino and Spanish-speaking. People live in the town’s cantones, among them Cantón Central, Buenos Aires, La Libertad, San Francisco, Villa Nueva, El Cerro, Las Delicias and El Porvenir, and in sixteen aldeas including Tajumuco, La Esperanza, Valentón Cinco Arroyos, Casa Grande, Esquipulas and Los Planes. The town fair falls on 15 May, the feast of San Isidro Labrador.

Houses in Unión Cantinil:

Finished houses are concentrated in the town’s cantones, within walking distance of the market, the banks and the health centre. The large majority are block or brick, under sheet-metal roofs or a concrete slab. A slab roof is worth noticing, because it lets a family add a storey later. Almost nobody rents here, so buyers are mostly local families, many of them building or buying with money earned in the United States. If you are looking at houses for sale in Unión Cantinil, ask whether the cantón is connected to the sewer, because drainage reaches only some of them. On a sloping plot, look at the retaining walls before you look at anything else.

Land and Lots in Unión Cantinil:

Building lots come up on the edges of the town and in aldeas such as Casa Grande, while further out the farmland is mostly coffee. On a farm parcel, altitude settles most questions: coffee here grows between 1,200 and 2,000 metres, and the highest ground in the municipality reaches 2,200. Few growers plant banana, macadamia or avocado among the coffee yet, although the land allows it and it spreads the risk when coffee prices fall. Before you buy land in Unión Cantinil, walk the parcel in the middle of the rainy season and ask whether it has ever moved, especially around La Tejera, La Esperanza and Los Chuj. Check the access too. A lot that looks close to town can sit at the end of a dirt track that washes out with every heavy storm.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Unión Cantinil?

  From Huehuetenango city it is a little over 70 kilometres. Take the Inter-American Highway toward the Mexican border, turn off at Camojá and climb through San Antonio Huista. The other route crosses the mountains from Todos Santos Cuchumatán. Expect dirt roads to the aldeas; Tajumuco is around 80 minutes from the town.

• Why is Spanish spoken here when the neighbouring towns speak Mam and Popti’?

  The town was settled after 1884 by people from Guatemala City who came with the army, on land given to the Chiantla battalion. It kept that ladino character, while Mam and Popti’ are still the everyday languages in the municipalities around it.

• What kind of coffee land is there?

  Small family farms between 1,200 and 2,000 metres, growing traditional varieties such as Caturra, Bourbon, Pache and Catimor, picked by hand and wet-processed. Local associations sell it as organic and Fairtrade specialty coffee. Before buying a parcel, check its exact altitude and how the harvest would get out to the road in the rains.

• What should I check about title before buying?

  Start with the municipality’s history. Unión Cantinil was part of Chiantla until 2005, so check whether older deeds and registrations still place the property in Chiantla, and near the río Ocho and the río Chanjón confirm which municipality the parcel actually falls in. Have a notary trace the property at the property registry and compare it with what the municipality has on record. Then go back to the ground itself: a steep plot or one near a past landslide needs a closer look.

• What services does the town have?

  The town has piped water, electricity and rubbish collection, with sewers in some cantones and a wastewater treatment plant planned. There is a health centre, a permanent market, bank branches, secondary schools through diversificado and a university extension.