Conguaco

About Conguaco:

Conguaco covers 128 square kilometres in the south of Jutiapa. Jalpatagua wraps around it to the north and east, Moyuta lies to the west, and along the south and east the Río Paz separates it from El Salvador. To get there from Guatemala City, take the highway towards El Salvador as far as the Cruce Los Mangos in Jalpatagua, where the road locals call the Ruta de los Mangos turns off and climbs south to Conguaco before carrying on west to Moyuta. The town is a little over 110 kilometres from the capital and about 65 from the departmental seat, Jutiapa, with asphalt the whole way. Buses that start in Moyuta pass through on their way to the capital, Jutiapa and the towns nearby, run by companies such as La Humilde, Rutas Danci, Transportes García and Veloz Jerezana.

More than half of the land is farmed and about four tenths is forest, mostly pine and cypress. The temperate high ground grows coffee, with Catuaí the usual variety around aldea El Franco, alongside bananas, and in some communities cucumbers, tomatoes and güisquil. Maize, beans, sorghum and rice are grown mainly to feed the household rather than to sell. Sunday is plaza day, when vendors set up in the town park. The seat has its own Juzgado de Paz, a RENAP office, secondary schools and a Universidad Panamericana centre, so registering a birth, settling a minor dispute or finishing school can all be done in town.

The ground is steep and broken. Hills such as El Bonete, El Pericón, Gigante, Tecolote and Del Jute rise across the municipality, and the Conguaco, San Pedro, El Torre and El Jute rivers cut between them. Water follows the terrain: the town drinks chlorinated piped water from four springs near the Río Conguaco and aldea San Pedro, while San Pedro takes its supply from the river of the same name, El Colorado draws from the Río El Torre and El Franco pipes water up from the Río Paz itself. Some of the lower aldeas, El Barro, El Bran and Palo Blanco among them, were still reached only by mule track in the early 2000s, concrete ramps were laid on the steepest stretches of other village roads, and paving has since pushed out towards San Pedro, with road works under way to El Barro. Where a property sits on that network shapes its price more than its size does.

Some 23,500 people were counted in the 2018 census, spread across the town, nine aldeas (San Pedro, Palo Blanco, El Barro, El Bran, El Jute, El Platanillo, El Colorado, Las Pilas and El Franco) and around 45 caseríos. Their roots are Pipil and Poqomam, and the border has brought Salvadoran neighbours to settle here, along with families from western Guatemala. Local lore says the name comes from guaco, a medicinal plant that pulled people through the cholera outbreaks of the nineteenth century: asked what had cured them, they answered “con guaco”. The titular fair for the Virgen de Concepción fills the first days of December, through the 9th, June 28 and 29 the feast of San Pedro Apóstol, and every 24 April the pinolada for San Marcos draws people in from the whole municipality. Most buyers are local families and people from neighbouring towns putting up a house of their own, while bigger parcels go to farmers and to people who want forest and space.

Houses in Conguaco:

In town, houses for sale sit on compact lots in barrios such as El Calvario, and a house on a seven-by-nineteen-metre lot with water, power and drainage already connected is the kind of thing that comes up. Out in the aldeas you get more land and more quiet: houses in places like El Barro are sold on their greenery and their neighbours. Houses also come up for rent by the month in town. Outside the seat, ask where the water comes from and where the wastewater goes, because a spring line, a river intake and a town connection are three very different things. If you are comparing houses for sale in Conguaco, ask whether the house itself is registered along with the land, not just the lot it stands on.

Land and Lots in Conguaco:

Most of what changes hands is land. At caserío El Chile, by kilometre 108, the Valles de Buenaventura project sells lots with water and power, reserved with a small deposit and paid off in monthly instalments, and other flat El Chile lots are sold for cash with the public deed in order. Flat plots of ten by twenty metres turn up a short walk from a church and a school, and around El Mosquito lots are sold for their green surroundings. At the other end of the scale come parcels of upwards of forty manzanas of broken, wooded ground. With land for sale in Conguaco, stand on the lot and look at the fall of the ground before you look at the price, because on ground this broken, cutting a level pad for the house is part of what the lot really costs.

FAQ:

• What should I check before buying a lot in instalments at El Chile or a hillside parcel in the aldeas?

  On an instalment lot, find out whether it already has its own finca number at the property registry or is still part of the developer’s larger property, and when the deed passes to you: on signing, or only after the last payment. Ask for the municipal paperwork behind the subdivision. For a parcel lower down, the risks are the slope, a track that may only be passable on foot when the rains set in, and a water supply that comes from a river or spring shared with neighbours. Get the access and the water right written into the sale.

• Can a foreigner buy land in Conguaco?

  Rural land within 15 kilometres of a border can only be owned by Guatemalans by origin, and Conguaco is small and runs right down to the Río Paz, so most of its rural ground falls inside that strip. Urban property is not affected. If you are not Guatemalan by birth, have a notary confirm how the property is classed before you pay anything.

• Is there piped water and electricity?

  The town has chlorinated piped water from four municipal springs and a drainage network. In the aldeas, water is usually piped from a nearby river or spring, so ask which source a house uses and how it holds up at the end of the dry season. Lots in the El Chile projects are sold with water and power available; elsewhere, check that the power line actually reaches the lot.

• How do I get to Conguaco without a car?

  Buses run to the capital, Jutiapa and the neighbouring towns, many of them starting in Moyuta and passing through Conguaco. From Guatemala City the route follows the highway towards El Salvador and turns off at the Cruce Los Mangos in Jalpatagua for the climb up the Ruta de los Mangos.

• When is a good time to visit Conguaco?

  Come on a Sunday to see the plaza in the park, on 24 April for the pinolada, or between 6 and 9 December for the titular fair. If you are buying land in the lower aldeas, make a second trip in the rainy season to see how the road behaves.