San Bartolomé Milpas Altas

About San Bartolomé Milpas Altas:

The town stands at 2,090 metres on the eastern side of Sacatepéquez, with Santiago Sacatepéquez to the north, San Lucas Sacatepéquez to the east, Santa Lucía Milpas Altas to the south, and Sumpango and Antigua Guatemala to the west. Three paved entrances leave the Inter-American Highway between kilometre 31 and 31.5, and since the kilometre posts count from Guatemala City, that number is your commute. One kilometre east, at the Monumento al Caminero, the RN-10 branches off toward Antigua Guatemala, 16 kilometres to the southwest. Dirt roads also run to Santiago Sacatepéquez and down to Antigua by the old Calle Real, while the streets of the town centre are paved end to end.

With no rural villages, everything here goes by zona. Zona 1 is the old centre and the most populated, with sectors such as La Bombonera, San Rafael, Los Izotes, La Joya, Julajú, El Cerro and Los Tulipanes, along with the parish church, the municipal building and a branch of the Universidad de San Carlos humanities faculty. Zona 2 has the health post and the municipal market, and zona 3 is the most residential, with gated condominiums. Zona 4 covers the north of the town along the highway from kilometre 30.1, where streets switch between asphalt, paving blocks and dirt and there is little room to walk. Ask for the zona before you ask for the price.

Fruit is what San Bartolomé is known for. Two kinds of peach, durazno and melocotón, grow on the plots that remain, with pears and vegetables; half the harvest goes to Antigua and to the CENMA wholesale market and La Terminal in the capital, and a quarter is sold on to El Salvador. Some forty families, with the work done mostly by women, preserve fruit by hand and sell it at Mercado La Cuchilla, the food market beside the CA-1 in zona 3, where the comedores are upstairs and the parking is paid. Maize and beans are still sown, but only for the family table.

Some 8,000 people live in this small space, at more than a thousand per square kilometre, and Kaqchikel is still the town’s indigenous language. The Axpuaca name goes back to the founding of the town on land left to the Dominicans in 1569, and it is still one of the most common surnames here. Farmland has shrunk as the town grows, and shops and mixed-use buildings have spread along the highway in zonas 1, 2 and 4. Buyers from elsewhere come for a house within reach of both the capital and Antigua, mostly in the condominiums of zona 3.

Houses in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas:

Family homes a few blocks from the plaza and the market make up the old centre, and they are most of the houses for sale in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas. Some come with a reinforced roof terrace ready for another floor. The bigger houses are in colonias such as Jardines de San Bartolomé and in the gated condominiums of zona 3, with master suites, a family room upstairs and parking for several cars. The price gap between an old-street house and a condominium house near the highway is wide, so compare like with like. In zona 4, walk the street in front before you decide: some stretches are still unpaved.

Land and Lots in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas:

Town lots run from 200 to 500 m², and the ones worth chasing come with their own water service title. Larger parcels of land for sale, two thousand square metres and more, turn up on the edges of town, some of them flat and offered for a house with garden, an orchard or a small project, along with country plots of close to a hectare a few minutes from the shops of San Lucas. Farmland is the scarcest thing in a municipality this size, and more of it is built over every year. The municipal plan sets aside room for growth at the end of 9a calle, in Los Izotes, Los Tulipanes and Las Cruces, around Nuevo Amanecer and toward Chichorín.

Commercial Property in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas:

The highway frontage is a market of its own. Between kilometre 30 and 31.5 the CA-1 is lined with car dealerships, workshops, parts shops, hotels, restaurants, a petrol station and the Asunción Export factory, and land along it is sold or leased for business. Parcels of around 2,500 m² with direct highway access come up at kilometre 31.5. Before you commit, look at how vehicles get in and out from the highway and ask the municipality whether it will license the use you have in mind.

FAQ:

• How far is San Bartolomé Milpas Altas from Guatemala City and Antigua?

  The town lies between kilometre 30 and 31.5 of the Inter-American Highway, counted from Guatemala City, out past Mixco and San Lucas Sacatepéquez. For Antigua, turn onto the RN-10 at the Monumento al Caminero, one kilometre east, and drive 16 kilometres southwest.

• Are there villages outside the town?

  No. Everyone lives in the town itself, which is divided into zonas. Zona 1 is the historic centre, zona 3 holds most of the gated condominiums and zona 4 stretches along the north side of the highway.

• A lot is advertised as San Lucas, but the seller says it belongs to San Bartolomé. What should I check?

  The two municipalities meet along the CA-1, and plots near kilometre 31.5 are often sold under the better-known San Lucas name. Get the certification from the property registry and look at which municipality the finca is recorded in, since that decides where you pay IUSI, who issues your building licence and who supplies the water. For a lot in town, ask whether it comes with its own water title, and if it does not, find out at the municipality what a new connection requires.

• When is the town fair?

  The fiesta of San Bartolomé Apóstol runs from 22 to 24 August, with the 24th as the main day, and the town has marked it with a carpet laid out in pears. The rest of the year, a weekly market sets up on the sports courts of the central plaza.

• Does frost affect gardens and fruit trees?

  Yes. Frost reaches the whole municipality at the end and start of each year, and it can take a fruit harvest with it. If you are buying a lot for an orchard or a garden, ask the neighbours which parts of the ground freeze and plant for those weeks.