Catarina

About Catarina:

Catarina covers 76 square kilometres of flat Pacific lowland in the southwest of the department. It borders Malacatán and San Pablo to the north, Pajapita and Ayutla to the south, El Tumbador and San José El Rodeo to the east, and Malacatán again to the west, where the Cabuz river draws the line. The town stands at about 260 metres, and its turn-off is at kilometre 263 of the CA-02, the international highway that links Tapachula in Mexico with Coatepeque and Guatemala City, 263 km away by that road. The paved RN-08 heads north through Santa Bárbara and La Muralla towards Malacatán and the departmental capital, 60 km off, so the town sits at a junction rather than at the end of a road.

The street plan is older than it looks. Catarina was created in 1882 as the municipality of La Grandeza, spent the following decades as an aldea of Malacatán, and became a municipality again in 1925, named for its patron, Santa Catalina de Alejandría. Gabriel Tirado, the Mexican consul, brought in an engineer to lay out the streets, and the main street was set at twelve metres wide, its first paving split between the neighbours on either side and the municipality. The church, parque central, market and sports court stand on land bought with the sale of a caballería donated by Julián González, and the patronal fair from 23 to 26 November still fills those streets with processions, the baile del torito and the baile de los moros.

Farming pays for most of what happens here. Maize grows in nearly every community; African palm and rambutan cluster around El Sitio, El Recreo and Xulá, rubber around San Gregorio, pineapple around Santa Bárbara and Las Pilas, and the slightly higher north, around La Muralla, La Paz and La Concordia, grows coffee under shade trees. Cattle pasture covers much of the rest, irrigation drawn from the Cabuz and Meléndrez serves farms in the south, and El Sitio, five kilometres down the highway and the second-largest settlement, is home to COPIASURO, a beekeepers’ cooperative known across the southwest. The town itself has banks and cooperatives, hardware stores, private sanatoriums, a technical institute and a branch of the Universidad de San Carlos, while the national hospital is a few kilometres away at La Montañita, in Malacatán.

Water decides more about land here than altitude does. Between May and October the Cabuz and the Meléndrez rise fast, and Guadalupe, San Juan Meléndrez, Xulá, Pueblo Nuevo El Rosario and the La Arenera sector of town are where flooding hits bridges, roads and houses. Building follows the roads: homes line the CA-02 at El Sitio and the road north through Las Delicias, Santa Bárbara and La Independencia, and new subdivisions are spreading from the edge of town. Lot sales here are pitched at families planning to build their own house, and the Yazaki wiring-harness plant in neighbouring Ayutla, with a second plant under construction in Pajapita, keeps drawing workers to this stretch of the coast.

Houses in Catarina:

Houses here are mostly family homes on their own plot, in the town centre, in cantones such as Primero de Mayo, Filipinas and Las Margaritas, and along the highway at El Sitio. The houses for sale in Catarina often come with registered deeds and water and electricity connected, and some include a separate room or small apartment that can be let. The municipality has more dwellings than households, so existing houses do change hands rather than everything being built new. Walk the street after heavy rain if you can: water pools where drains are blocked, and La Arenera has both flooding and slips.

Land and Lots in Catarina:

Land is the bigger market. Several residential subdivisions have opened around the town, among them Prados de Catarina in San Juan Catarina, El Mirador and La Nueva Ciudad de Catarina, with lots for sale in Catarina running from about 7 × 17 m to 10 × 20 m, water and electricity in place, and a down payment that can be split before the monthly instalments start. Plots in the town centre come up too, sold as sites in the part of town that is growing. Further out the land is farmland: maize, plantain and pasture on the flat south, palm and rubber around El Sitio and San Gregorio, coffee under shade in the north. Flat ground is easy to build on, but in the south ask how the plot drained last rainy season and how close it sits to the Meléndrez or the Xulá.

Commercial Land in Catarina:

The CA-02 carries the traffic between Coatepeque, Malacatán and the Mexican border right past Catarina, and plots facing it are sold as business sites rather than house lots. One sits at the crossroads near kilometre 262.5, where the roads to Tecún Umán, Malacatán and the town meet, and a hotel already operates at kilometre 261.5. Frontage on this road suits a shop, a warehouse, a workshop or a roadside restaurant living off passing trade. Before you commit, confirm with the municipality and the national roads authority how far the highway’s right of way reaches into the plot, because that strip cannot be built on.

FAQ:

• How do I get from Catarina to Guatemala City and to the border?

  Take the CA-02 Occidente: the turn-off is at kilometre 263 and the capital is 263 km away along the coast, while the route up through San Marcos runs to about 310 km. The same highway leads down to Tecún Umán and the crossing into Tapachula, and buses on it link Catarina with Malacatán, Pajapita, Coatepeque and the rest of the south coast.

• Which parts of Catarina flood in the rainy season?

  The Cabuz and Meléndrez rise between May and October, and the places hit hardest are Guadalupe, San Juan Meléndrez, Xulá, Pueblo Nuevo El Rosario and the La Arenera sector of town. Ask neighbours how high the water came in recent storms, and look at the bridges you would depend on to reach the plot.

• What should I check before paying instalments on a lot in a subdivision?

  On an instalment sale the deed is often signed over only after the last payment, so confirm first that the subdivision’s land is registered in the seller’s name at the Segundo Registro de la Propiedad in Quetzaltenango, which covers San Marcos, and that it carries no mortgage or claim. Ask the municipality whether the subdivision has its licence, check that water and power are connected rather than promised, and read what the contract says about late payments.

• Do the aldeas have water and electricity?

  The main settlements have power. El Sitio and Sisiltepeque have piped water to the house, while Santa Bárbara draws from wells and San Juan Meléndrez from a pumped well system, so on a rural plot ask whether there is a connection or whether you would need a well of your own.

• Where are the nearest hospital, schools and banks?

  The town has banks, cooperatives, a health post, private sanatoriums and clinics, secondary schools including a technical institute, and a branch of the Universidad de San Carlos. Hospital care is at the national hospital in La Montañita, Malacatán, a short drive away.