La Unión

About La Unión:

La Unión has Gualán and the municipality of Zacapa to the north, Zacapa again to the west, Camotán and Jocotán in the Chiquimula department to the south, and Honduras to the east. The town is 195 kilometres from Guatemala City. You take the CA-9 Atlantic highway to the Mayuelas junction at kilometre 165, in Gualán, then climb 28 kilometres south on the paved national road SAC-05. Zacapa, the department seat, is 75 kilometres away by road. From the south, a 31.5-kilometre dirt road comes up from Camotán, and another dirt road through Tasharté works as a back route toward Zacapa. The paved climb from Gualán carries nearly all the traffic and has needed repairs more than once, so check its condition before you plan a daily commute.

The first settlers were Chortí families from Jocotán and Camotán, who between 1860 and 1870 built a hamlet on the Lampocoy mountain and named it Monte Oscuro. It became a municipality on 3 February 1904 under the name Estrada Cabrera, after the president of the day, and belonged to Chiquimula until it was moved to Zacapa in 1907. When Estrada Cabrera fell in 1920 the town took the name La Unión, and it is still the only municipality in Zacapa with a Chortí population. Coffee runs the economy: more than three thousand families grow it across La Unión and Gualán, and Anacafé keeps a sub-regional office in Barrio Nuevo to serve them. Roasting and export happen elsewhere, so local jobs centre on picking and drying, with maize and beans grown for the household. At the town fair in late April a Señorita Caficultores is crowned next to the Flor de la Feria, and the programme includes an agricultural show.

Almost the whole municipality is humid subtropical forest, a world away from the dry thorn scrub of the Motagua valley below. The weather station in Colonia Tait, in the town, stands at 1,000 metres; the mean temperature is 22.3 °C and the average high 26.9 °C. Rainfall reaches 1,365 mm a year, most of it from May to October, but Caribbean weather brings showers even in the dry season, and only February to April are reliably dry. The ground is steep and broken, with heights such as Cumbre Alta de Taguayní and the cerros El Amargal and Pelón, and every part of the municipality is prone to landslides. Up high, the Bosque Nuboso Parque Regional de La Unión protects the forest that holds the water for La Unión, Zacapa, Camotán and Gualán.

Nearly nine people in ten live in the countryside, in aldeas and caseríos such as Tasharté, Lampocoy, Taguayní, Timushán, Tres Pinos, Campanario and Peña Blanca. The town holds almost every service: a health centre, schools at every level including an extension of the Universidad Rural, banks, hotels and restaurants, and the offices of RENAP, the agriculture ministry, the public prosecutor and the justice of the peace. Tasharté, 12 kilometres southwest on a dirt road, is the second centre, and water and electricity reach nine homes in ten there. The fastest-growing places are the town, Lampocoy, Tasharté, Taguayní, Campanario, Capucal Chagüitón, Cumbre Alta, Corozal Arriba and Timushán. The town has been spreading outward without land-use rules to guide it, and buyers are mostly local families building or enlarging a home and coffee growers adding land.

Houses in La Unión:

Homes here are single-family houses, grouped in the town and in the centres of Tasharté, Lampocoy, Timushán and Campanario Progreso, the places with an urban core. Living in town keeps the health centre, the banks and the shops within walking distance, while a house in an aldea puts you next to the coffee and further from the asphalt. Electricity has spread quickly in recent years but still misses some hamlets, so confirm the meter and the water connection rather than assume them. For years the main entrance to town crossed a provisional bridge that closed in heavy rain; ask whether that has been fixed. When comparing houses for sale in La Unión, Zacapa, find out whether the lot sits on a slope and how it held up in the last rainy season.

Land and Lots in La Unión:

Most land that changes hands is rural: coffee parcels, orange groves, banana plots and mixed farms on the hillsides, measured in manzanas. Springs matter a great deal, and some farms come with several of their own, which suits high-altitude coffee, orange and izote. Building lots are in demand around the town and the growing aldea centres, and the municipality’s land-use plan earmarks areas for housing projects and a southern zone for commerce and light industry. Part of the high ground lies inside the regional cloud forest park, so confirm land-use restrictions before you buy near the ridge. Walk the boundaries with the neighbours, check the registered title at the property registry, and see the access road in October as well as in March.

FAQ:

• How do I get to La Unión, Zacapa from Guatemala City?

  Take the CA-9 to the Mayuelas junction at kilometre 165, in Gualán, and turn south for 28 kilometres of paved road up to the town, 195 kilometres in all. From Chiquimula, a dirt road climbs 31.5 kilometres from Camotán.

• Is La Unión cooler than the rest of Zacapa?

  Much cooler. The town averages 22.3 °C with highs below 27 °C, the air is humid and rain falls in most months. Down on the valley floor around Zacapa and Gualán, the heat is dry and fierce.

• Can I buy a coffee farm in La Unión?

  Yes. Coffee is the main crop, grown mostly by families on small holdings. The Anacafé office in Barrio Nuevo gives technical advice and sends soil and cupping samples to its laboratories, which helps when you are judging a farm. Ask about the variety, the age of the plants and which beneficio buys the harvest.

• What should I check before buying land here?

  Landslides are the main hazard everywhere in the municipality, so study the slope, the drainage and the road in the wet months. Confirm the title in the property registry, find out where the water comes from, and make sure the parcel is not inside the cloud forest park.

• Where do residents go for hospital care?

  The town has a health centre. For hospital treatment people go to Zacapa city, 75 kilometres away by road, where the Hospital Regional de Zacapa is.