Canillá

About Canillá:

Canillá covers a little over 120 square kilometres, with Uspantán to the north, Joyabaj and Zacualpa to the south, San Andrés Sajcabajá to the west and Cubulco, across the line in Baja Verapaz, to the east. Most people come in from Santa Cruz del Quiché, the department seat: take the road to San Andrés Sajcabajá, cross through that town and keep going until you reach Canillá. The run takes an hour and a half on a road in good shape. The other way out heads south to Zacualpa and Joyabaj, and heavy rain has left that road badly damaged more than once. The Río Negro also crosses the municipality, the river that takes the name Chixoy further downstream at the dam.

Canillá started out as an aldea of San Andrés Sajcabajá. In 1880 it had 607 inhabitants, nearly all of them farmers, and on 21 March 1893 the government granted the village’s own request to become a separate municipality. The name is read in K’iche’ as “yellow pericón”, after the yellow-flowered herb, although another reading has it as “yellow water”, for the gold that one of its rivers was once said to carry. Today the town holds the municipal offices, the health centre, a library, the post office and the shops that serve the whole municipality, and new lots are advertised by how many minutes they are from the Shell station on the way in. The feria titular, for the Inmaculada Concepción, fills the town from 8 to 12 December.

The town stands a little under 1,400 metres up, and the rest of the municipality climbs from 1,000 to 2,000. Ninety per cent of the communities are on broken ground with heavy slopes, part of the crystalline rock of the Sierra de Chuacús, and the valley is known for dry, hot weather. Farms are small. Maize and beans come first and mostly feed the household, followed by miltomate, peanuts, sugar cane, sweet peppers, vegetables and fruit, and cattle are the other mainstay. Brick is made locally, and women’s artisan groups add to family income.

Most people live outside the town, in 36 settlements: the urban centre, six aldeas and 29 caseríos, among them Chichaj, 12 kilometres out, Chijoj, Pajopop, El Aguacate, Canillá Chiquito and La Galera. Dirt roads of 3 to 21 kilometres tie them to the centre, and a few places, such as Tuxtunep, La Galera and Las Vegas Picaché, are still reached only by rough tracks. Paid work is scarce, so many people from Canillá leave for other parts of Guatemala, for Mexico or for the United States, and one group works in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Two kilometres from town, past Chijoj, the Maya site of Los Cerritos Chijoj keeps its temples, ball court and altar from the Late Classic, between 700 and 900 AD.

Houses in Canillá:

Family homes in and around the town centre make up most of the houses for sale in Canillá, and town plots here can be generous. One five-bedroom house on the road out to Chijoj sits on almost 950 square metres, with its own pool, a garden of about 400 square metres, a storeroom and a service room. Out in the aldeas, judge the access and the water before the house itself. Before you buy, find out whether it has a municipal water connection or relies on a spring, and drive the access after a heavy rain.

Land and Lots in Canillá:

Land is most of this market. Close to town, a subdivision sells lots of 10 by 20 metres, a minute from the Shell station and three from the centre. Bigger pieces come up along the road in, like a lot of almost 1,700 square metres a kilometre before the town, and a three-manzana tract has been offered for anyone who wants to subdivide. When you compare lots for sale in Canillá, walk each one: outside the flat town floor, a level parcel and a steep one on the Chuacús hillsides are very different land, whatever the area on paper.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Canillá from Santa Cruz del Quiché?

  Take the road to San Andrés Sajcabajá, go through its centre and continue to Canillá. It is an hour and a half on a road in good condition. The road south toward Zacualpa has been badly hit by heavy rain, so ask how it is before you plan a viewing that way.

• What should I check before buying land in Canillá?

  Find out first whether the land is private property or municipal land. The municipality has had rules for leasing its own land to residents since 1973, and a family can hold a lot under a municipal lease for years without owning it. Ask the seller for a deed, confirm that it is inscribed in the property registry, and check at the municipal offices that the lot is not on the lease roll. Outside town, add the slope and the access to the list: some caseríos are still reached only by a track.

• Can I reach the aldeas all year?

  The aldeas and caseríos are connected to the town by dirt roads between 3 and 21 kilometres long, which carry traffic through the year. Pajopop and Ximiagüito got their dirt road more recently, while Tuxtunep, La Galera and Las Vegas Picaché still depend on rough tracks. If the parcel you like is out there, go and see it in the rainy season.

• What is Los Cerritos Chijoj?

  It is a Maya site from the Late Classic, between 700 and 900 AD, two kilometres from town near the aldea of Chijoj. A French scientific mission restored several temples, a ball court and a ceremonial altar there in the 1970s, and more mounds around them have never been excavated. Entry is free; stay off the mounds.

• When is the Canillá feria?

  The feria titular for the Inmaculada Concepción runs from 8 to 12 December, and 8 December is the main day. On the 8th, the day starts at nine in the morning with mañanitas sung to the Virgin.