Cabañas

About Cabañas:

The Motagua forms the whole northern border of Cabañas, with Usumatlán on the far bank. Huité lies to the east, San Diego to the south and El Jícaro, in El Progreso, to the west, while the municipality’s southern corners touch the Chiquimula and Jalapa departments. Zacapa city is 35 kilometres east and Guatemala City 119 kilometres away, about two hours by car. From the capital, most drivers leave the Atlantic highway at El Rancho and come in through El Jícaro; the other way in turns off the CA-9 at Santa Cruz, in Río Hondo, and runs through Huité. That departmental road carries on past Huité and La Fragua to Zacapa city, and locals use it as a back route when the highway is blocked. Inside the municipality, one paved road covers the 11 kilometres to Quebrada Honda, San Vicente and El Arenal, and another runs 20 kilometres toward San Diego past La Puente, La Laguna, San Luis, El Rosario and El Guayabo. Buses work those two roads, while Sunzapote, Plan de la Cruz, Lomas de San Juan and Santo Tomás are reached by pickup on dirt tracks.

Water decides what the valley can grow. The Cabañas irrigation unit has drawn on the Motagua since November 1972, and private intakes on the San Vicente and Jalapa rivers water more ground around the town, La Laguna, La Puente, Quebrada Honda, San Vicente and El Arenal. On that land farmers raise tomato, sweet pepper, cucumber, aubergine, tobacco and fruit, and farm work in the valley keeps many households going. Higher up, without irrigation, it is maize and beans, small herds of dual-purpose cattle, and pigs and hens in almost every rural yard; cheese and cream are made in San Vicente, Quebrada Honda and Finca El Naranjo. Potters in El Arenal and Los Encuentros turn out clay comales and cooking pots, there are block yards in the town and San Vicente, and two commercial bakeries sell bread across the region. Money from relatives in the United States is a steady part of the local economy, and plenty of people still leave for seasonal work in the capital, on the south coast or in Petén.

Only a fifth of Cabañas is flat, and that fifth is the Motagua valley floor in the north; the rest rises in rolling to steep hills toward the south. The town and the valley sit between 207 and 240 metres above sea level, while the upper watersheds climb to 1,200 metres around El Gigante mountain, the recharge area that feeds the springs. Most of the municipality is thorn scrub and dry forest in Guatemala’s semi-arid belt. Expect heat: the year averages 27 °C, afternoons reach 38 °C, rainfall runs from 400 to 1,000 mm, and more water evaporates than falls. The San Vicente River, formed where the San Diego and Santo Tomás meet, and the Jalapa or Tambor River both flow north into the Motagua. About 25 springs and 27 wells supply homes and fields, and residents name drying springs and shrinking rivers as their most serious environmental worry. The Niño Dormido regional park, run by the municipality with CONAP, protects 216 hectares of dry forest for the beaded lizard, iguanas, birds and endangered cacti, and school and university groups come to study them.

The town began as San Sebastián Chimalapa and took its present name in 1890, in honour of the Honduran general José Trinidad Cabañas. It belonged to the El Progreso department from 1908 to 1920, and in 1957 part of its land was split off to create Huité. The 2018 census counted 13,641 residents, 54 per cent of them in the urban area, a higher share than Teculután or Río Hondo. The town is divided into four zones, with barrios such as San Sebastián, San Juan, San Marcos, San Antonio and San Pedro, and it has a type A health centre with a laboratory, while San Vicente, Lomas de San Juan and El Rosario have health posts. Families arriving from the aldeas of San Pedro Pinula, in Jalapa, have filled out the town and Quebrada Honda. Every January the San Sebastián fair, which peaks around the 20th, brings processions, livestock events and the quema del torito.

Houses in Cabañas:

Homes cluster in the town’s four zones and along the two paved roads, where the buses pass and services are better. Older houses are adobe or bajareque, while most new building goes up in concrete block, some of it made in Cabañas and San Vicente. Electricity covers the municipality, and the town, La Laguna, El Rosario, San Vicente, Quebrada Honda and El Arenal have sewer systems that the municipality plans to extend. Buyers are mostly local families and people moving in from neighbouring Jalapa. Before you commit to any house for sale in Cabañas, Zacapa, find out how close it stands to the Motagua or the San Vicente: when Tropical Storm Agatha hit in 2010, the Motagua flooded parts of the town, Quebrada Honda and La Puente and damaged or destroyed 25 homes.

Land and Lots in Cabañas:

Land here splits cleanly in two. Valley parcels near the town, La Laguna, La Puente, Quebrada Honda, San Vicente and El Arenal can be irrigated and grow vegetables, tobacco and fruit, and some already carry a block house, such as a flat parcel of about 4,000 square metres sold with the home on it. Hillside land to the south is measured in manzanas, farmed for maize, beans and pasture, and depends entirely on the rains. For valley ground, ask whether the parcel draws from the irrigation unit or a private intake, and look at the canal: Agatha damaged the system, and most users still irrigate by gravity, which wastes much of the water. Those same parcels lie in the Motagua’s flood path, so walk them with a neighbour who remembers 2010. On the slopes the soil suits forest better than crops, some parcels receive INAB forestry incentives, and felling trees needs an INAB licence. Whichever of the lots for sale in Cabañas you choose, check the title at the property registry before any money changes hands.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Cabañas from Guatemala City?

  Take the CA-9 Atlantic highway to El Rancho, turn off and drive through El Jícaro; the trip is 119 kilometres, about two hours. You can also stay on the CA-9 to Santa Cruz, in Río Hondo, and come in through Huité.

• Does the Motagua flood in Cabañas?

  It can, and flooding is a risk every rainy season. The town, Quebrada Honda and La Puente are the most exposed, along with farmland in La Laguna, San Vicente and El Arenal. In 2010 Agatha pushed the river higher than Hurricane Mitch did in 1998, and the municipality has proposed dredging and moving some families out of Quebrada Honda and La Puente.

• How hot is Cabañas?

  Hot and dry for most of the year, with an average of 27 °C and highs of 38 °C on the valley floor. The upper slopes in the south, which climb to 1,200 metres, are cooler and wetter.

• Where does the water supply come from?

  Communities draw on about 25 springs and a set of wells, some for drinking water and some for irrigation. Several springs and rivers have been drying up, so ask any seller how reliable the supply is in the dry months.

• What services does the town have?

  Cabañas has a type A health centre with a laboratory, schools, and buses to Zacapa city and the capital, and a new bicentennial school is being built to serve Cabañas, Huité and San Diego. For hospital care, people go to Zacapa city, 35 kilometres east.