San Martín Sacatepéquez () is one of 24

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the department of

Quetzaltenango Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is both the seat of the namesake Department and municipality, in Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It m ...

, Guatemala. San Martín Sacatepéquez has a surface area of . The center of the town is situated at

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

. According to the most recent government survey, the population of the municipality is 28,926 people.

Geography

San Martín Sacatepéquez is located on the edge of the

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

chain that divides the Western Highlands of Guatemala from the

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...

. Just below the volcanic chain, to the southwest, the rich ''Boca Costa'' (piedmont) soils extend toward the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. The Boca Costa occupies the warmer more

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

lands from above sea level. To the northeast lies the altiplano, the elevated

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

-laden volcanic highlands. The altiplano encompasses the colder territory found at higher elevations, ranging from above sea level to the peak of the

Siete Orejas Volcano Siete is the Spanish word for 7, seven. It may refer to: *Sie7e (born 1977), a Puerto Rican singer *Sietes (born 1974), a Spanish footballer *El Sie7e, a Colombian band *LaSiete, a Spanish television channel that aired from 2008-2014 *Siete (album ...

, San Martín's highest point at above sea level. As is true throughout much of the highlands of Guatemala, in San Martín weather is divided into two seasons: the rainy season—which lasts from early May to early November—and the dry season—which lasts from early November to early May.

Culture

San Martín Sacatepéquez is predominantly inhabited by

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

, Mam descent.

Linguistically Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, San Martín is part of the Southern Mam speaking region of Guatemala. The town is also known as San Martín Chile Verde, due to the large quantity of

green chili Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

peppers its farmers historically grew and brought to Quetzaltenango to sell. The Laguna Chicabal, a

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

and holy site for the Mam, is located within the municipal boundary of San Martín. San Martín is also notable due to the colorful traditional garb (known in Guatemala as ''traje'') still worn by the residents. Although most Maya men throughout Guatemala have adopted Western clothing, a large population of men in San Martín still wear ''traje''.

Notes

External links

Travel writing on San Martín SacatepéquezLocal website (in Spanish)
Municipalities of the Quetzaltenango Department {{Guatemala-geo-stub