Chinique

About Chinique:

Chinique lies just east of Santa Cruz del Quiché, with the departmental capital to its west and northwest, Chiché wrapping around its south and east, and San Andrés Sajcabajá to the north. The two towns are only 13 km apart in a straight line, but the road goes round through Chiché. From Santa Cruz you take departmental route Quiché 2 for 7.5 km to Chiché, then head north-west for the last 11 km, paved the whole way. The regional hospital, the bigger shops and the departmental offices are all back in Santa Cruz, so that drive is the commute to judge any property by.

Fewer than 15,000 people live in the municipality, and most of them outside the town, in aldeas such as Agua Tibia, Cacabal, Choaxán, El Cordoncillo, Tapesquillo, Las Vigas, Ximbaxuc and La Puerta. Residents are K’iche’ and Ladino, and you will hear both K’iche’ and Spanish in the street. Farming is the backbone: maize and beans, grown mostly on small family holdings. An indigenous mayoralty works alongside the municipal council, and the auxiliary mayors of each community meet the mayor on the first Sunday of every month. The year peaks in January, when the town honours the Señor de Esquipulas from the 11th to the 17th with convites, the baile del Torito, the crowning of Señorita Chinique and fireworks on the main day, the 15th.

The town stands on the flat ground that gave it its name, on a spur of the Sierra de Chuacús, and the municipality climbs from about 1,650 metres in its lower aldeas to above 2,300 metres on the ridges. The Sibacá and Cacabaj rivers cross its territory. Frost is the climate fact that matters here: Chinique is among the Quiché municipalities hit hardest by it, and one cold night can burn maize, flowers and fruit. Cold air pools in low ground, so where a plot sits in the landscape counts as much as its size. Water, on the other hand, is less of a worry than next door in Chiché and Santa Cruz del Quiché, which both face a higher risk of shortage.

Buyers here are local and regional families; Chinique has no tourist or expat trade pulling prices up. In the town centre most houses are built of concrete block, while adobe walls and tile roofs are still common in the aldeas. Families who move into town without a plot of their own usually rent until they can buy. As across Quiché, money sent home by relatives working abroad is one of the ways households pay for land and building.

Houses in Chinique:

Family homes in the town centre and on the streets leading out of it make up most of the houses for sale in Chinique. Newer houses are concrete block with sheet-metal or concrete roofs; older ones keep adobe walls under clay tile. A house on a 20 by 30 metre plot a few minutes from the centre is the kind of property that comes up. With an adobe house, check the walls and the roof timbers before you talk price, and ask whether it has its own municipal water connection.

Rentals in Chinique:

Renting in Chinique mostly means a house or a set of rooms in the town centre, let directly by the owner. It is the usual route for families arriving from the aldeas or from elsewhere who have no land in town yet. Even when the landlord is a neighbour, put the rent, the deposit and who pays water and electricity in writing. For a wider choice, Santa Cruz del Quiché is the nearest larger rental market.

Land and Lots in Chinique:

Land in Chinique is sold by the cuerda, from a single house lot to a dozen cuerdas or more of farmland. At the entrance to the town, lots on the edge of the paved road suit a home or a small business that lives off passing traffic. Further out, the aldeas hold the larger land for sale in Chinique: in El Cordoncillo, 15 minutes from the centre, semi-flat plots are offered for planting or for building. A cuerda is not the same size everywhere in Guatemala, so agree the measure in square metres before you agree the price. For comparison, serviced lots with registered deeds are sold on the Santa Cruz side of the road to Chiché, and they show what a titled plot with water and drainage costs nearby.

FAQ:

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

  Take departmental route Quiché 2 for 7.5 km to Chiché, then continue 11 km north-west to Chinique. The road is paved throughout and the whole trip is just under 20 km.

• What should I check before buying a plot in one of Chinique’s aldeas?

  Start with how the seller holds the land. Rural parcels can pass from parents to children for generations without ever being registered, so a seller may have only derechos posesorios rather than a deed inscribed in the property registry. Find out which it is, walk the boundaries with the neighbours and the community’s auxiliary mayor, and ask the municipality whether any work is planned along the road frontage before you pay a deposit.

• Does frost affect farming in Chinique?

  Yes. Chinique is one of the Quiché municipalities most exposed to frost, and a hard night in the cold season can damage crops, flowers and fruit trees. Low ground and hollows suffer first. Before buying farmland, ask the growers next door which parts of the slope escape it.

• When is the Chinique fair?

  The fiesta for the Señor de Esquipulas runs from 11 to 17 January, with the main day on the 15th. Convites, the baile del Torito and the crowning of the town’s queens fill the centre that week. Plan viewings in town around it, or come on purpose to see Chinique at its busiest.

• Where do people in Chinique go for hospital care and larger shops?

  The town has a health centre for everyday care, but the regional hospital and the bigger markets are in Santa Cruz del Quiché, back along the road through Chiché. If you are buying in an outlying aldea, add the drive from your plot into town to that journey.