Chicamán

About Chicamán:

The town stands at 1,470 metres, 263 kilometres from Guatemala City. Uspantán borders the municipality to the north and west, San Cristóbal Verapaz in Alta Verapaz to the east and southeast, and Cubulco in Baja Verapaz to the south. Ruta Nacional 7W runs west to Uspantán and Cunén and east over the Chixoy bridge at kilometre 229, then on through San Cristóbal Verapaz to Cobán, 70 kilometres away by road. More than 1,500 vehicles cross that bridge every day. The eastern stretch has a rough record: in 2009 a landslide at Los Chorros wiped out 1.3 kilometres of road and cut Chicamán off from San Cristóbal Verapaz until the route was rebuilt and paved.

Coffee is the main cash crop, grown alongside cardamom, maize, beans, sugar cane and izote, which is cut for export. Cardamom heads east to buyers in Alta Verapaz, and the panela boiled from local cane is bought by traders from Santa María Chiquimula and Santa Lucía La Reforma. Gypsum is quarried on the boundary with San Cristóbal Verapaz, one more reason the road east matters so much. The town has two egg farms, and buyers drive over from Cobán for its poultry. Families also make marimbas, sopladores, petates and pottery, and caseríos such as La Campana and Pancul keep Poqomchi’ palm weaving and Achi pottery going.

The land folds through the last ridges of the Cuchumatanes and the Sierra de Chamá, so a single municipality holds very different farming ground. Peaches, plums and chilacayote grow in the cold upper zones; pineapple, avocado, oranges and jocotes in the warm ones near the river. The cloud forest on Cerro Amay, protected as a regional park, recharges the water that Chicamán and Uspantán depend on, and the town draws its own supply from a spring in its upper part. Visitors come for tubing on the Chixoy, the El Soch archaeological site and the Grutas de Peña Flor.

Chicamán has been a municipality only since 5 January 1984, when it was split from Uspantán. Nine in ten residents live outside the town, in aldeas such as El Amay, Pajales, Las Pacayas, La Cruz, Chixoy and El Soch. Ladino families share the municipality with K’iche’, Q’eqchi’, Poqomchi’, Uspanteko and Achi communities, and the population has grown past 44,000. Buyers are mostly local families wanting a lot close to town or more ground in their own aldea. The big week of the year is the patronal fair of the Virgen de Concepción, from 3 to 9 December.

Houses in Chicamán:

Building styles change across the municipality. In the northern aldeas most homes are bajareque with sheet-metal roofs, and many still have palm roofs; towards the southeast you see block and adobe under sheet metal, along with flat-roofed concrete casas de terraza. Houses sold in town are family homes, such as a property in the centre, another facing the turn-off to Xecawic, or a two-storey, three-bedroom house in La Cañería on a 10 by 19 metre lot. Before you agree a price, ask where the water comes from and check whether the walls and roof will stand another rainy season.

Land and Lots in Chicamán:

Land is the main market. Aldea Xecawic has lots of 10 by 40 metres, and Llano Grande has a subdivision with lots in several sizes. Further out, farms are measured in manzanas and sold for crops and cattle, and a large one can mix steep ground with flat areas. Match the parcel to what you plan to do with it: ground for oranges and avocado near the Chixoy is a different purchase from a plot below the El Amay forest. Ask to see a registered deed, not just an assurance that the papers are in order, and walk the boundaries with the neighbours. If you are looking at land for sale in Chicamán close to the river, see it after heavy rain: the Chixoy rises fast.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Chicamán?

  From Cobán, take Ruta Nacional 7W west through San Cristóbal Verapaz and over the Chixoy bridge; the town is 70 kilometres away by road. From the western highlands the usual way in is through Uspantán, coming from Cunén. Guatemala City is 263 kilometres away. If you are heading to the northern aldeas, ask first about the road to El Soch Secá, which is being improved.

• Where does Chicamán end and Uspantán begin?

  On the ground, not always clearly. The 1984 government accord that created Chicamán described its northern boundary loosely, and the line with Uspantán has never been fully settled. If a parcel is in the north of the municipality, ask the municipality in writing which jurisdiction it falls under, and make sure the deed, the cadastral description and the IUSI property tax all point the same way. Quiché properties are recorded at the Segundo Registro de la Propiedad in Quetzaltenango, so order a certification there before you pay anything.

• What will the land grow?

  Altitude decides most of it. The cold ground towards El Amay suits peaches, plums and chilacayote, while the warm land lower down produces pineapple, avocado, oranges and jocotes. Coffee and cardamom are the crops that bring in the most money across the municipality, and cane is grown for panela. Look at what the neighbouring parcels have planted before you decide what a plot is good for.

• How reliable is the road to Alta Verapaz?

  The paved RN-7W is the main link and carries heavy daily traffic, but this stretch has been cut by landslides and storm damage before, and in 2025 the Chixoy bridge needed its steel deck plates replaced. In the rainy season, check the state of the road before a viewing trip. For a rural parcel, ask how it is reached when the access road is dirt.

• What is there to do in Chicamán?

  The Chixoy is the main draw, with tubing on clear water between steep banks. The El Soch archaeological site, the Grutas de Peña Flor and the cloud forest of El Amay are all inside the municipality. In December the town fills up for the fair of the Virgen de Concepción.