Palestina de Los Altos

About Palestina de Los Altos:

Palestina de Los Altos lies on the western edge of the department of Quetzaltenango, a little over 30 km from Xela and some 230 km from Guatemala City. Sibilia is to the north, Cajolá to the east and San Juan Ostuncalco to the south-east, and the western boundary is also the departmental line with San Pedro Sacatepéquez, in San Marcos. Six kilometres of the paved highway between Xela and San Marcos cross the municipality, and local roads branch off it towards the aldeas. A secondary road heads north to Sibilia and Cabricán. Some of the dirt tracks between caseríos need four-wheel drive once the rains arrive. The municipality has been upgrading stretches such as the rural road to Los González, but ask how a property is reached in September, not just in March.

Palestina started out as an aldea of San Juan Ostuncalco and grew with the Quetzaltenango–San Marcos road, which was begun in 1882. It became a municipality in its own right in 1933. The “de Los Altos” came in 1952, added because its mail kept getting mixed up with a finca called Palestina near Coatepeque. More than 16,000 people live here now. Three in four are Maya, and you hear Mam as much as Spanish. Potatoes are the crop that pays: they go through collection points in the area and on to traders from El Salvador and Honduras. Fresh cheese from local farms sells across western Guatemala. Maize, broad beans, wheat, oats and beans fill the other fields, and Wednesday is market day in town.

The town stands at 2,620 metres, and the cold here lasts all year. Nights in El Edén have dropped below freezing, and frost is the biggest threat to a potato crop. The soils are fertile clay and sandy loams, but the ground is steep and broken, and where trees have been cleared, heavy rain washes the topsoil away. On a plot, watch how water runs off it in the wet months. In a house, check how much sun it gets and how well it holds heat.

Life here is organised by caserío, not by a street grid. Around the town are Nueva Linda, El Socorro, Los Méndez, Altamira, Los López, Los Díaz, Los Molinos and Roble Grande. El Edén takes in Mira Peña, Las Delicias, Buenos Aires and El Sinaí; El Carmen includes La Joya, Nuevo Palmira and Toj Wabil; and San José Buena Vista covers Los Marroquín, La Cumbre, Cruz Verde and Toj Choll, also known as Cruz del Mexicano. Piped water reaches the communities, and a well at Los Molinos supplies the central area. Most buyers are local families and potato growers adding to their land. They are joined by people from Xela and San Marcos looking for a lot near the highway, sometimes for a weekend house in the cool air.

Houses in Palestina de Los Altos:

Homes here are detached family houses, both in town and out in the caseríos, and most have land around them. Bigger properties come up too, with several en-suite bedrooms on plots of 700 m² or more. When you compare houses for sale in Palestina de Los Altos, find out which water system serves the house and what the access road is like in the rainy season. Spend an evening there as well. Here, a house that stays warm after dark is worth more than an extra room.

Land and Lots in Palestina de Los Altos:

Land is what drives the local market. A few minutes from the centre, on the way to San Marcos, building lots are sold in compact sizes such as 8 by 16, 8 by 18 or 9 by 18 metres, and plots of around 300 m² come with water and electricity available. Out in the aldeas, land is potato ground first. Its value depends on slope, frost exposure and whether it fronts a road you can use all year. Before you weigh one piece of land for sale in Palestina de Los Altos against another, walk the whole boundary and get the exact area in square metres.

New Developments in Palestina de Los Altos:

Residenciales Altamira is the lot project currently on sale in the municipality. You hold a plot with a reservation, pay a down payment and then instalments, and basic services are due to be installed. Go and see the site before you sign, and find out which services are already in and which are still only promised. Ask for the project’s municipal licence as well. Make sure your lot will have its own finca number at the property registry.

FAQ:

• How far is Palestina de Los Altos from Xela?

  A little over 30 km on the highway from Quetzaltenango to San Marcos, and around 230 km from Guatemala City. If the property is in one of the aldeas, add the stretch on local roads, and some of those are dirt.

• What should I check on the title of farmland here?

  First, check whether there is a deed at all. Many potato growers in Palestina farm land without a deed they could offer as a guarantee, which is one reason so few of them get bank credit. Ask whether the parcel is entered in the property registry or held only on a possession document. If it lies near the San Marcos line, or in El Edén, which joined the municipality in 1936, confirm which municipality it is recorded under. Then measure it on the ground and compare it with the plan.

• Does frost affect building or farming?

  Mostly farming. Cold air settles in hollows, so a plot in a low dip can lose a potato crop in a single night while a sunny slope next to it gets through. For a house, frost is about comfort: orientation, roofing and how well the walls hold heat all count.

• When are market day and the town fair?

  Market day is Wednesday, at the municipal market in the centre. The feria titular falls on the first Friday of Lent, a date set in 1937, so it moves every year with the Easter calendar.