Santiago Sacatepéquez

About Santiago Sacatepéquez:

Santiago Sacatepéquez covers just 15 square kilometres on the eastern edge of its department, where Sacatepéquez runs into Mixco and San Pedro Sacatepéquez in the department of Guatemala. San Lucas Sacatepéquez and San Bartolomé Milpas Altas are its southern neighbours, with Sumpango and Santo Domingo Xenacoj on the other side. From the capital, the route is the CA-1 Occidente past Mixco to San Lucas and then the departmental road into town, 30.7 kilometres in all, while Antigua Guatemala, the departmental capital, is 22 kilometres away by the RN-10. Inside the municipality, Santa María Cauqué lies three kilometres from the centre on the Interamericana. Pachalí is the closest aldea and has its own road out to San Lucas, and San José Pacul sits 7.4 kilometres out.

Farming here turned towards export a long time ago. The Cooperativa Agrícola Integral Unión de Cuatro Pinos was founded in Santiago in 1979 to move highland smallholders from subsistence crops to high-value vegetables grown for sale abroad, and its offices are still in the town. The fields grow vegetables and peas alongside maize, beans and wheat, with orchards of peaches, plums and apples, plus blackberries, raspberries and roses. A poultry farm at Pachalí and a pig farm at San José Pacul give work to people from the surrounding communities, while cotton weaving for traditional dress, rope work and ironwork carry on in town. On the Interamericana at Santa María Cauqué the economy is commerce: petrol stations, comedores, event halls, hotels, plant nurseries, factories and a hospital.

The town has not always stood where it does. Oral tradition puts the first settlement at Las Tres Cruces, three kilometres away at the fork where the roads to San Pedro Sacatepéquez and San José Pacul split, and says the people came down to the present site because the cold up there was too hard to live with. That cool air is now one of the reasons people move in, along with the short run to the capital. The higher ground belongs to the mountains of El Rejón and San Rafael, and a sixth of the municipality lies inside the Reserva Forestal Protectora de Manantiales Cordillera Alux. Those forests feed the springs most households draw their water from, and every year they lose ground to new fields and new housing.

Close to 37,000 people live here, most of them Kaqchikel, and you will hear Kaqchikel as often as Spanish in the market. More than four in five live in urban areas, which on 15 square kilometres makes Santiago a crowded municipality by highland standards. The population has been growing a little faster than the department’s, and the newcomers have settled mostly in condominiums and colonias near the town centre and in Santa María Cauqué, Pachalí and Chixolis. Buyers are a mix of local families and households who work in Guatemala City and want a house within commuting range. The town’s defining day is 1 November, when kites of tissue paper on bamboo frames rise over the cemetery and, that night, the Cofradía de San Miguel Arcángel goes house to house for the B’ojoy Naye’, smashing the clay pot each household hands over to drive out bad spirits.

Houses in Santiago Sacatepéquez:

Houses in and around the town centre are mostly block-built family homes, close to the market and the municipal services. On the Santa María Cauqué side, gated residenciales such as Arcos de Santa María, at kilometre 36.5 of the Interamericana, sell one-, two- and three-storey houses behind a guard gate. Lots in these projects are small, so the space comes from building up: a three-storey house of 104 square metres can stand on a 70 square metre plot. When you compare houses for sale in Santiago Sacatepéquez, ask where the water comes from and how much storage the house has, because most homes here rely on springs and wells. Then drive to your workplace at rush hour, since the CA-1 through San Lucas and Mixco decides how far away the capital really is.

Rentals in Santiago Sacatepéquez:

Rentals cover a wide range. At the simple end are two-room houses on the main roads with a pila, an electric shower and their own water tanks. In Arcos de Santa María II, new four-bedroom houses are let with the maintenance fee included in the rent, and in Villas de Santiago furnished country houses with plenty of built space come up for rent. Before signing in a gated project, ask what the fee covers and whether water is billed separately.

Land and Lots in Santiago Sacatepéquez:

Residential lots sell inside private projects such as Villas de Santiago, five minutes from San Lucas, Portales de Santiago and Villa Verde. Plots in the 250 to 325 square metre range leave room for a detached house with a garden. The better-served projects have paved, lit streets and a controlled entrance, and many sit among trees. Further out in the aldeas the land is still worked for vegetables, grain and fruit, and part of the high ground is forest reserve. Before buying land in Santiago Sacatepéquez, find out whether the parcel lies inside the Cordillera Alux reserve, how water will reach it, and whether the access road is public or belongs to the project.

New Developments in Santiago Sacatepéquez:

Most new building in the municipality is happening inside gated projects. Arcos de Santa María has opened a second phase on Finca Manzanales at Santa María Cauqué, Villa Verde is selling lots in a wooded, colonial-style setting, and new condominiums and colonias have gone up near the town and in Pachalí and Chixolis. Next door in San Lucas, residents of one project have spent years in a legal fight with their developer, so do your checks before the deposit, not after. Ask for the registered title of the whole development, the municipal construction licence and a clear answer on who maintains the streets, water and lighting once the developer moves on.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Santiago Sacatepéquez from Guatemala City?

  Take the CA-1 Occidente through Mixco to San Lucas Sacatepéquez and turn off on the departmental road; the town is 30.7 kilometres from the capital. Arcos de Santa María, in Santa María Cauqué, sits right on the Interamericana at kilometre 36.5. Antigua Guatemala is 22 kilometres away.

• Is it better to buy in the town or in Santa María Cauqué?

  They suit different buyers. The town has the market, the municipal services and the community life, including the July fiesta and the November kites. Santa María Cauqué has the highway commerce, the hospital and most of the gated projects, and it puts you on the road to the capital, Antigua or Chimaltenango faster.

• What should I check before buying a plot here?

  Water first. Homes run on springs and mechanical wells, and the forest that feeds those springs loses dozens of hectares a year, so ask to see that a connection exists rather than taking it on trust. Then check whether the parcel lies inside the Reserva Forestal Protectora de Manantiales Cordillera Alux, which is managed under a CONAP plan. At the property registry, look up your own lot, not only the mother property a gated project was carved out of.

• What happens in Santiago Sacatepéquez on 1 November?

  All Saints’ Day is the town’s big day. Families visit freshly painted graves, and giant kites go up over the cemetery from the morning into the afternoon. The technique for building them was declared part of Guatemala’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2022, and the day draws visitors from well beyond the municipality.

• What do people do for work in Santiago Sacatepéquez?

  Export farming, with the Cuatro Pinos cooperative as the best-known name, the poultry and pig farms, commerce along the Interamericana, and trades such as weaving and ironwork. The capital is close enough for a daily commute.