San Antonio Aguas Calientes

About San Antonio Aguas Calientes:

San Antonio Aguas Calientes lies southwest of Antigua Guatemala in a valley closed in by wooded hills, and from the edge of town you look out at Agua, Acatenango and Fuego. Buses leave from the terminal in Antigua, and the ride takes fifteen minutes to half an hour depending on stops. Traffic comes in on the 0 avenida and leaves on the 3rd avenida, while the 2nd avenida, the calle Real, carries on to Santa Catarina Barahona. San Andrés Ceballos is reached down the 3rd avenida and Santiago Zamora by the 8th calle, which joins the road to San Miguel Dueñas. The aldeas sit one and three kilometres from the centre, near enough to work almost as neighbourhoods of the town.

The name describes something you can no longer see. In colonial times this volcanic valley gave off fumaroles and warm vapour, hence Aguas Calientes; none of it is left. The first settlers were Kaqchikel families who moved here from San Bartolomé after locusts wiped out their crops, and the Franciscans later gave the town San Antonio de Padua as patron, with his feast on 13 June. Below the town lay the Quilisimate lagoon, fed by the río Nimayá, until malaria forced its drainage in 1928. It still returns every rainy season as a sheet of water over private farmland, the three volcanoes mirrored in it, and community guides lead walks out to it.

Most of the ground outside the built-up area is farmed. Vegetables, coffee, maize and avocado go to Antigua and Guatemala City, some of it on to El Salvador and Honduras, and nurseries near the lagoon grow flowers for export. Textiles are the other big trade, with around 500 families weaving; the Museo Casa del Tejido Antiguo in zona 4 shows the town’s work and teaches backstrap weaving, and there is a textile market for visitors. Carpentry and ironwork shops fill out the local trades. San Antonio was the first municipality in Sacatepéquez declared free of illiteracy, in 2010, and since 2015 it has hosted the Centro Universitario de Sacatepéquez (CUNSAC) of the Universidad de San Carlos.

Four zones meet at the central plaza. Zona 3 holds the plaza and is the centre today. Zona 2, with barrios El Costeño, Nimayá, El Moro and La Esperanza, has most of the shops along the 3rd avenida, plus schools, sports courts and the general cemetery. Zona 1 is the most populous, with the municipal stadium and its Olympic pool, and the municipal plan expects it to grow into a second centre around the university. Kaqchikel is the first language in most homes. The whole municipality is classed as urban, and the same plan lists disorderly growth among its main problems, pushed by housing projects spreading out from Antigua into the towns around it.

Houses in San Antonio Aguas Calientes:

Homes for sale sit on the town’s grid of avenidas and calles. They run from compact family houses to four-bedroom homes a few minutes from Antigua, and some newer three-level houses finish in a covered roof deck looking over the town and the hills. Bank-owned houses come up as well, one of them with 380 m² built on a 313 m² lot. At the top end there are large properties near the central park with a garden, a Spanish patio with a fountain and room for a group, at least one sold with a tenant already in place. In El Costeño, Nimayá or El Cafetal, ask how the street holds up in a downpour: these low-lying barrios see minor flooding more than once in a typical rainy season.

Rentals in San Antonio Aguas Calientes:

Rentals are whole houses let by the month, in town rather than inside gated residenciales. A common offer is a two-level house with two or three bedrooms, one bathroom, a laundry area and sometimes a brick barbecue in the yard. Four-bedroom houses of about 175 m² come up too, some with a terrace over the town. Monthly rents sit below what similar houses fetch in Antigua. Short stays are let as well, to visitors who come for the weaving, the lagoon or the volcano views.

Land and Lots in San Antonio Aguas Calientes:

The municipality is classed as urban from end to end, yet much of it is still farmed, so land comes in two kinds. In town, lots for sale in San Antonio Aguas Calientes are small, some under 200 m², and a few blocks from the plaza they come with water and electricity already connected. On the hill toward the municipal forest, plots of a few cuerdas appear in barrios such as Verapaz, planted with coffee and fruit trees, with volcano views and sometimes reachable only on foot or by motorbike. The municipal land-use plan marks expansion areas for housing and commerce in zona 2, El Cafetal, parts of zona 4 and both aldeas, so ask how a plot is classed before you design anything for it.

FAQ:

• How do I get to San Antonio Aguas Calientes from Antigua?

  Buses leave from the bus terminal in Antigua and take fifteen minutes to half an hour, depending on stops. By car you arrive on the 0 avenida, the town’s main entrance. The aldeas are a short hop further: San Andrés Ceballos to the south, Santiago Zamora to the west.

• What should I check before buying a house or lot here?

  Start with exactly where it sits. The low barrios, El Costeño and Nimayá in zona 2 and El Cafetal in zona 3, flood in the rains, and slopes in zona 1, zona 3 and Santiago Zamora carry a landslide risk that the municipal plan regulates. Near Quilisimate, remember that the lagoon fills again every rainy season. On hillside plots, find out how the access path crosses neighbouring land and whether that right of way is registered. Then get the certification from the property registry and walk the boundaries against the measurements it gives.

• Is there a university in town?

  Yes. The Universidad de San Carlos has run its Centro Universitario de Sacatepéquez here since 2015, starting with psychology and education degrees. Students come in from across the department, and lodging, cafés, bookshops and copy shops have opened to serve them.

• Is Laguna Quilisimate a permanent lake?

  No. It was drained in 1928 because of malaria and now fills only in the rainy season, over private farmland in zona 2. Community guides take visitors out to it, and on clear days Agua, Acatenango and Fuego show in the water. If a property is sold as being near the lagoon, see it in both the dry and the wet months.

• Where can I see the town’s weaving?

  At the Museo Casa del Tejido Antiguo on 0 avenida in zona 4, which shows old and new pieces and teaches the San Antonio backstrap technique. The piece to look for is the double-faced huipil: the pattern reads the same from either side, which is why it takes longer to weave than most.