Chajul

About Chajul:

San Gaspar Chajul, to give it its full name, borders Nebaj to the west, San Juan Cotzal to the south, Uspantán to the east and Ixcán to the north, so every neighbour is another Quiché municipality. From Nebaj it is a short minibus or shared-taxi ride on a paved road that turns slick in the rain. Past the town, the roads out to the northern communities are slower and rougher, and trips there are counted in hours. Around 52,000 people live in the municipality, most of them in some 60 rural communities such as Ilom, La Perla, Sotzil, Xolcuay, San Joaquín Chel and San José Xix.

Coffee carries much of the cash economy. The Asociación Chajulense Va’l Vaq Quyol was started in 1988 by farmers who had survived the armed conflict, and it now brings together around 1,200 organic growers, most of them working about a hectare each between 850 and 1,600 metres. In Chel, the community runs its own small hydroelectric plant on the Xesayí creek. On market days the square fills with flowers, vegetables and textiles. Ixil is the language of daily life, K’iche’ and Q’anjob’al are spoken in some communities, and for a hospital people go to Nebaj.

Chajul’s sense of itself is bound up with its land. Cerro Paxil, in Xolcuay, is held to be the place where maize was first grown. The parish church of San Gaspar is packed on the second Friday of Lent for Jesús Nazareno, and on the fifth Friday a pilgrimage comes over from Cotzal. In 2003 the renovation of a family house in town uncovered colonial-era murals linked to the local cofradías, and more have since been documented in other private homes. To the north, the Visis Cabá reserve, declared in 1997, covers around 450 square kilometres of Ixil communal land, and setting it up took years of negotiation with the communities living inside it.

Land here has a long paper trail. In 1894 the municipality petitioned for its traditional lands, and a presidential agreement in 1900 granted it more than 1,180 caballerías free of charge, split into large lots, one of them covering Chel, Ilom and Susil. Estates and concessions were carved out in the north over the following decades, and the La Perla finca has been in a land dispute with Ilom for generations. The armed conflict of the early 1980s hit the municipality hard, displaced whole communities and left boundaries that are still argued over. The population is overwhelmingly Ixil, and any purchase here runs, sooner or later, into that history.

Houses in Chajul:

The town centre is laid out around the church and the square. The older houses are whitewashed adobe under clay-tile roofs, built around inner patios. Some hold more than thick walls: several of these homes turned out to have colonial murals under later plaster. If you buy one to renovate, take the finishes off carefully and look hard at the roof timbers and the adobe before you cost the work. Ask which services are actually connected before you agree a figure.

Land and Lots in Chajul:

Land makes up most of what is offered, and it is measured in cuerdas. Small plots come up along the roads that link the town with aldeas such as Xolcuay, where road frontage counts for a lot. Further north and lower down, parcels are worked for coffee; walk any coffee land in Chajul in the rainy season and see how you would get a harvest out before you judge the price. If a plot is near the Visis Cabá reserve, confirm where its boundary runs and what its rules allow, because clearing and building are restricted there.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Chajul?

  From Guatemala City it is roughly 270 kilometres, by the Inter-American Highway and then north through Santa Cruz del Quiché and Nebaj. The last stretch from Nebaj is short and served by minibuses and shared taxis. Allow a good deal more time for the northern aldeas, especially in the rainy season.

• What should I check about title before buying land in Chajul?

  The risk here lies in where the land came from. Much of the municipality descends from the communal grant of 1900, and around Ilom and La Perla some boundaries have been disputed for generations. Get a certificate from the property registry, compare the measurements with what you see on the ground, and speak to the community’s alcalde auxiliar before you sign.

• Can I build near the Visis Cabá reserve?

  The reserve is managed by CONAP and sits on Ixil communal land, so anything planned near it depends on its rules and on agreement with the communities. Before buying, locate the plot against the edge of the protected area and ask what uses are allowed.

• Can coffee be grown anywhere in the municipality?

  Not everywhere. The town sits at close to 2,000 metres, while the area’s coffee is grown lower down, between 850 and 1,600 metres, in the northern communities. If you want a coffee parcel, check its exact altitude and how the harvest would leave the farm.

• Where are the nearest hospital and university?

  The hospital that serves Chajul is in Nebaj. The Universidad Ixil, founded in 2011, teaches in Nebaj, Chajul and Cotzal, so students can study without leaving the region.