Totonicapán

About Totonicapán:

Totonicapán sits in Guatemala’s southwestern region, with Huehuetenango to the north, Quiché to the east, Sololá to the south and Quetzaltenango to the west. It is one of the smallest departments in the country and has eight municipalities: Totonicapán, the seat, plus Momostenango, San Francisco El Alto, San Cristóbal Totonicapán, San Andrés Xecul, San Bartolo Aguas Calientes, Santa María Chiquimula and Santa Lucía La Reforma. The CA-1 comes in from Sololá and reaches Cuatro Caminos at kilometre 186, in San Cristóbal, where the roads to Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango and the seat split off; an overpass now carries the highway over the junction. From there it is 11 kilometres to the city of Totonicapán, which lies a little over 200 kilometres from the capital. San Francisco El Alto is reached from the CA-1 towards Huehuetenango, and the northern towns are a longer climb: Santa María Chiquimula is 40 kilometres from the seat.

The 2018 census counted 418,569 people, close to 400 per square kilometre, and Momostenango alone has more than 105,000. Almost everyone is K’iche’ Maya, and K’iche’ shares official status with Spanish across the department. Families grow maize and beans, much of it for their own table, but the department lives on craft and trade. The seat is known for wooden furniture, wool weaving and glazed, painted ceramics, Momostenango for its wool ponchos and blankets, and San Francisco El Alto for a Friday market that ranks among the largest in Central America, where locally made clothing is sold wholesale alongside produce, household goods and livestock. The city of Totonicapán also holds the departmental hospital, on the road in from Cuatro Caminos, and the Centro Universitario de Totonicapán of the Universidad de San Carlos.

This is cold country. The seat averages 12 °C, and only Santa María Chiquimula and Momostenango have small pockets of milder weather. On some days wind and mist bring a fine drizzle that people here call the salud del pueblo. In the southeast of the municipality of Totonicapán, the communal forest of Los Altos de San Miguel Totonicapán climbs from 2,400 to 3,403 metres and holds some of the largest and best-kept conifer stands in Guatemala, including pinabete fir; it has been a protected area since 1997, and between November and February nights there have dropped to −7 °C. Around 1,200 springs rise inside it and feed the cantones, and the forest also forms the headwaters of the Samalá, Nahualate, Motagua and Salinas basins and Lake Atitlán. Elsewhere, the sandstone pinnacles of the Riscos de Momostenango have been a national park since 1955, and the name Totonicapán, from the Nahuatl for hot water, suits a department where the San Bartolo hot springs still draw bathers.

Community organisation is part of daily life. The 48 Cantones of the seat elect communal mayors and a board that speaks for the K’iche’ people of Totonicapán, and residents give unpaid service, the k’axk’ol, that includes forest patrols. The seat is also called the Ciudad Prócer, after the 1820 uprising led by Atanasio Tzul and Lucas Aguilar against colonial tribute. Most buyers are local families, merchants and tailors who build or buy close to where they work, and the ties to Quetzaltenango are strong: San Andrés Xecul and the seat belong to the Mancomunidad Metrópoli de los Altos with Quetzaltenango and its neighbours. Visitors come for the yellow church facade of San Andrés Xecul, the Riscos, the San Bartolo hot springs and the El Aprisco trail at Chuipachec, five kilometres from the seat.

Houses in Totonicapán:

Houses for sale are mostly one- and two-storey family homes in the zones of the city of Totonicapán and in the centres of San Cristóbal, San Francisco El Alto and Momostenango. Some larger two-storey houses near the centre of the seat, with seven rooms or more, are offered as a home that could also work as a clinic or a small guesthouse. Out in the cantones and aldeas, a house usually sits on a family plot of modest size. When you compare houses for sale in Totonicapán, think about the cold first: south-facing rooms, solid walls and hot water matter more here than a big garden. Ask, too, whether the house takes its water from the municipal network or from a community system fed by a spring.

Rentals in Totonicapán:

The rental market is built around everyday needs. Three-bedroom apartments with a living room, dining area and kitchen are let in zona 1 of the seat, and rooms and small houses go to people working at the hospital, in government offices or at the university centre. In San Francisco El Alto and at Cuatro Caminos, demand comes from trade, with premises and storage space as well as homes. Before you sign, check how the place holds up on a December night and agree in writing who pays for water and electricity.

New Developments in Totonicapán:

Most new building comes as lotificaciones that sell serviced lots of around 200 square metres, often 10 by 18 metres, on the edges of the seat and along the roads towards Cuatro Caminos. Many developers offer their own financing, with instalments over up to two years and sometimes no interest. These are lot sales, and buyers build at their own pace. Ask for the municipal approval of the project, check that each lot will be registered as a separate property, and find out who will connect and run the water supply.

Land and Lots in Totonicapán:

With so many people on so little land, plots here are small and well used. Urban lots in the seat and in San Cristóbal come with water and electricity at the front, and lots a minute or two from Cuatro Caminos are offered for homes or roadside business. Rural parcels in the cantones are farmed for maize and beans, and much of the high forest is communal and protected, so it is not on the market at all. Before you pay, confirm whether the parcel is registered at the property registry or held only by possession, and talk to the communal mayor of the cantón about water rights and paths.

Commercial Property in Totonicapán:

Cuatro Caminos is the department’s commercial address. Land with frontage there, sometimes several thousand square metres, sits where traffic from four departments meets, and the new overpass has changed how vehicles reach each side, so walk the access before you decide. In the seat, the road in from the junction is the main approach and passes the departmental hospital at kilometre 198. San Francisco El Alto lives off its market and its clothing workshops; on market days some four kilometres of streets fill with stalls, so ask how a property’s frontage is used on those days.

FAQ:

• Which municipalities are in Totonicapán department?

  There are eight: Totonicapán, Momostenango, San Francisco El Alto, San Cristóbal Totonicapán, San Andrés Xecul, San Bartolo Aguas Calientes, Santa María Chiquimula and Santa Lucía La Reforma. The city of Totonicapán is the seat, and Momostenango has the largest population.

• How far is Totonicapán from Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango?

  The seat lies a little over 200 kilometres from the capital along the CA-1. You leave the highway at Cuatro Caminos, kilometre 186, and drive 11 kilometres to the city. Quetzaltenango is just across the departmental border on the other road out of the same junction.

• Can I buy land in the Totonicapán communal forest?

  No. The forest of Los Altos de San Miguel Totonicapán is communal land looked after by the 48 Cantones and has been a protected area since 1997, so felling and the extraction of wood and firewood are restricted. Private lots are found around the towns and in the cantones outside the forest.

• How cold is Totonicapán?

  The seat averages 12 °C and nights from November to February are the coldest of the year, with frost in the high forest. Santa María Chiquimula and Momostenango have small pockets of milder weather if you want to avoid the worst of it.

• When is the San Francisco El Alto market?

  Friday is the main market day and starts before dawn, when the plaza and surrounding streets fill with stalls of clothing, produce and animals. Textile stalls also set up earlier in the week, so expect busy streets from midweek onwards.