Santo Tomás Chichicastenango

About Santo Tomás Chichicastenango:

Chichicastenango sits on National Route 15, the road that leaves the Inter-American Highway at Los Encuentros and climbs north to Santa Cruz del Quiché. The route is narrow, with tight bends, and the entry into town is slow on market days; through traffic for Santa Cruz can take the libramiento around the centre. The municipality also reaches the Inter-American itself at Chupol, around kilometre 107, which puts that side of it on the direct road to Guatemala City and to the western highlands. Its neighbours are Santa Cruz del Quiché, Chiché and Chinique to the north, Patzité and Totonicapán to the west, Joyabaj and Tecpán to the east, and the department of Sololá to the south. Away from those two main roads, many of the tracks into the cantones are still dirt.

The name comes from Nahuatl and refers to the chichicaste, a stinging nettle. In colonial times this was a Dominican parish, and between 1701 and 1703 its priest, Fray Francisco Ximénez, found the manuscript of the Popol Vuh here and made the copy and translation through which the K’iche’ book survives. Today commerce, farming and tourism carry the local economy, and money sent home from the United States supports many households. Apples are the main crop, grown with plums by producer groups in cantones such as Camanchaj, Mactzul, Chutzorop and Semejá. Several national banks have branches in town, and Hermo Vista Mall, seven floors of shops and offices, looks out over the centre.

The land runs from 1,500 to 2,400 metres and is cut by some 25 rivers, among them the Sepelá, one of the headwaters of the Motagua. Pine, oak and cypress cover hills such as Pocohil and Turkaj, where the shrine of Pascual Abaj stands two kilometres from the centre. The Sepelá park sits four kilometres out on the road to Santa Cruz. In town, the church of Santo Tomás faces the Calvario across the square, and the Rossbach museum and the vegetable market are close by. Fourteen cofradías carry the religious year, and the fiesta of Santo Tomás runs from 12 to 23 December, with the 21st as the main day and the convite of 8 December, held since 1890 and declared part of the nation’s intangible heritage.

Instead of aldeas, the municipality is divided into cantones, close to ninety of them, and most people live there rather than in the town. Among the largest are Chupol, Chugüexá, Camanchaj, Chuabaj, Chicuá and Pajuliboy. Nearly everyone is K’iche’ Maya, K’iche’ is spoken at home in most families, and a few communities near Sololá speak Kaqchikel. Buyers are mostly local families and traders, and demand gathers in two places: the streets around the market, where a ground-floor shop earns its keep twice a week, and the Chupol strip beside the highway. There are health centres in the town and in Chupol, while the nearest hospital is in Santa Cruz del Quiché.

Houses in Santo Tomás Chichicastenango:

In the centre, houses are built in block, often on two levels, on tight plots. A house a few blocks from the parish church can fit four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a roof terrace and a street-level shop on 122 square metres. Larger homes on several hundred square metres of land come up too, though some of them need updating. In the cantones, a house usually stands on family land with room for maize or an orchard. Only a handful of cantones have drainage, so for any house outside the centre ask where the wastewater goes and whether the water runs through the dry season.

Rentals in Santo Tomás Chichicastenango:

Rentals are almost all in the town. Expect two-bedroom apartments with a kitchenette, a private bathroom and parking, and three-bedroom houses with a garden and water, electricity and drainage connected. Parking matters more here than in most towns of this size, because the centre streets fill with stalls twice a week. If you drive to work, visit the street on a Thursday or a Sunday before you sign.

Commercial Premises in Santo Tomás Chichicastenango:

Shop and office space is a market of its own in a town that lives from trade. Hermo Vista Mall has more than 45 units over seven floors, with a cooperative bank among its tenants. In the older centre, units are let on upper floors inside existing buildings, and on the highway side the Interplaza centre in Chupol serves traffic on the Inter-American. Before you take a unit near the square, ask how deliveries reach it when the market is up and whether it has its own electricity meter.

Land and Lots in Santo Tomás Chichicastenango:

Land in the cantones changes hands by the cuerda: ten cuerdas in Cantón Chucojom, a plot of a little over four cuerdas suited to building or farming, and rustic parcels of well over a hectare. Closer to town, house lots come up in zona 6 and on the edges of the centre. Most of the ground slopes, and with so many rivers and ravines, it pays to see a parcel in the wet months before you agree a price. Ask for the size in square metres and check how the access track holds up when it rains.

FAQ:

• How far is Chichicastenango from Guatemala City?

  It is 145 kilometres. Take the Inter-American Highway to Los Encuentros and turn north on National Route 15; Santa Cruz del Quiché is another 18 kilometres beyond the town.

• What should I check before buying land in a cantón of Chichicastenango?

  Start with the ground: slope, nearby ravines and rivers, and, near Chupol, the landslides that have closed stretches of the Inter-American around kilometre 108. Then the services, since most cantones have no drainage. Finally the paperwork: family land is often divided among heirs, so confirm at the property registry that the exact piece you are buying has its own registration in the seller’s name.

• Which days is the market held?

  Thursday and Sunday. Stalls take over the square and the surrounding streets, which is good for anyone who owns a shop there and a nuisance for anyone who needs to park.

• Where is the nearest hospital?

  The town and Chupol each have a health centre for routine care and minor emergencies. Serious cases go to the hospital in Santa Cruz del Quiché, 18 kilometres north.

• Can I rent commercial space in Chichicastenango?

  Yes. Hermo Vista Mall has units over seven floors, upper-floor premises are let inside buildings in the centre, and the Interplaza centre in Chupol sits on the Inter-American.