Pasaco

About Pasaco:

Pasaco fills the southwestern corner of Jutiapa. Oratorio and San Juan Tecuaco, both in Santa Rosa, lie to the north, Chiquimulilla to the west, Moyuta to the east and the ocean to the south. The town stands at 150 metres and is linked to the CA-2 by a paved 4-kilometre road. Guatemala City is 148 kilometres away through Escuintla, or 130 if you come down through Barberena, and Jutiapa city, the departmental capital, is 92 kilometres by road. Most roads out to the aldeas are still dirt, and in the rainy season some of them only take four-wheel drive, so the municipality has been paving them a stretch at a time, in El Sitio, in the caserío San Antonio and on the road out toward El Astillero.

The municipality comes in two halves. The southern one, 158 square kilometres of coastal plain, never rises above 60 metres: wide pastures, gentle swells and old river channels that run again when the rains come. The northern half is broken country of scattered hills climbing to some 450 metres, and the villages up there are harder to get to. The Río Grande de Pasaco crosses the municipality, Laguna El Comendador lies in the aldea that carries its name, and mangrove lines the canal at El Salitrillo and, most thickly, at Barra El Jiote. The rains run from May to October, and that is when low ground on the plain can lie under water for days.

This is cattle and maize country. The clay soils that cover two-fifths of the land grow maize, sorghum, beans and fruit, and much of the rest is pasture, with some sugarcane and ornamental plants. Laguna El Comendador is a village of fishing families, while on the canal the catch has fallen so far that many fishermen at Barra El Jiote now work as caretakers of holiday houses owned by families from the capital. Some 11,200 people live in Pasaco, spread between the town and sixteen aldeas such as El Sitio, Sunzapote, El Astillero, Tintón Norte, El Socorro and San Luis La Danta. Life in town turns on the central park and the Estadio Los Almendros, where the municipal football final is played, and the fair for San Francisco de Asís fills the first days of October.

The first people here were Xinca. In colonial times the town was called Paxaco and stood 8 kilometres south of where it is now, at a site known today as La Esmeralda, where mounds, carved stones and stone-edged streets can still be traced. In 1848 Pasaco was placed in the new district of Santa Rosa, and it now belongs to Jutiapa. Buyers fall into three groups: local families and ranchers trading houses and pasture, people from the capital looking for a weekend house near the sea, and investors picking up larger parcels close to town. The paved spur to the CA-2 is what makes the last group possible.

Houses in Pasaco:

Most houses for sale stand in the town barrios, some of them two-storey homes half a block from the central park, others split into two units so the owner can live in one and rent the other. Out in the aldeas a house usually comes with land around it. The municipality has been extending the sewer network in Barrio Sur, so ask whether the house you are looking at is already connected or still runs to a septic pit. On the plain, check whether the lot sits on one of the low channels that fill in the rainy season, and look at the walls for old damp lines. When you compare houses for sale in Pasaco, a place on a paved street near the park and one at the end of a dirt road in the hills belong in different price brackets even at the same size.

Land and Lots in Pasaco:

Land is the bigger market. On the edge of town, owners are dividing parcels into lots of 8 by 16 metres, some sold with payments spread over several years. Larger tracts near town come up too, such as a parcel of fourteen manzanas beside the cemetery, half flat and half rolling, with paved access over a newly built bridge. Further out, ranches of eight to eighteen manzanas change hands with corrals, hand-dug wells and electricity, and a few parcels look straight onto Laguna El Comendador. Before you buy land for sale in Pasaco, walk it in September or October: on the southern plain the old river channels decide which part of a parcel floods, while in the northern hills the question is whether a truck can get in at all.

Beach Houses in Pasaco:

Barra El Jiote, the strip of black sand between the Chiquimulilla canal and the ocean, has a cluster of holiday houses, seafood restaurants and a small eco-hotel on an islet between canal and sea, all reached by boat. Many of the houses belong to families from Guatemala City and are looked after by local caretakers through the week. Any house here sits inside the 3-kilometre strip along the coast that the state keeps for itself, so it cannot be titled as private property. What changes hands is a lease from OCRET, the office that controls the state reserve areas, together with the house built on it. Ask to see the lease contract, proof that the rent is paid up and the expiry date, and remember that the lease can only be transferred whole, never split between buyers.

FAQ:

• Can I own a beach house at Barra El Jiote outright?

  No. Guatemala reserves the land within 3 kilometres of the high-tide line for the state, and private parties hold it under leases granted by OCRET. Buying a beach house here means taking over the lease and paying for the house and other improvements, so the lease contract matters more than the asking price.

• How do I get to Pasaco from Guatemala City?

  Drive to Escuintla and follow the CA-2 east toward El Salvador, 148 kilometres in all, or cut across through Barberena for a 130-kilometre trip. The town is 4 kilometres south of the highway on a paved road, and Barra El Jiote is the last leg, across the canal by boat.

• What should I check on the title of farm land in Pasaco?

  Plenty of land here is worked by tenants or held in usufruct, so the family farming a parcel is not always the family that owns it. Have a notary confirm at the property registry that the parcel has its own finca number and that the seller is the registered owner. On ground near the shore or the edge of Laguna El Comendador, also find out whether part of it falls inside a state reserve, where no freehold title can be issued.

• What are the roads like in the rainy season?

  The highway and the spur into town are paved. Many roads to the aldeas are dirt, and between May and October some can only be driven in four-wheel drive. The municipality is paving them section by section, so ask which stretches are done before you settle on a parcel.

• When is the Pasaco town fair?

  The titular fair for San Francisco de Asís runs from 2 to 4 October, with the main day on the 4th. It is the busiest time of year in town and a good moment to see how the barrios around the park live.