Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan is a village in the northwest corner of the

Sololá __NOTOC__ Sololá is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital of the department of Sololá and the administrative seat of Sololá municipality. It is located close to Lake Atitlan. The name is a Hispanicized form of its pre-Columbian name, one sp ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, about west of

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

. The village (not be confused with

Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan is a municipality in the Sololá department of Guatemala. It is located at about in altitude in the steep mountains of the Sierra Madre range, descending from the western highlands to the southern coastal plain. The indi ...

, see below) is along both Guatemalan Highway 3 and Central American Highway CA-1. The village has a population of around 4000 people and is approximately 3048 meters (10,000 feet) above sea-level. The village is known for its Mayan culture, including traditional Mayan weavings created with a back-strap loom.

History

Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan is a relatively young village. The village was formed in 1998, when 60% of the village of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan was destroyed by large landslides during

Hurricane Mitch Hurricane Mitch is the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, causing over 11,000 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately 7,000 in Honduras and 3,800 in Nicaragua due to cataclysmic flooding from the slow motion ...

and residents decided to establish a new village on higher ground. Although the decision to move was made by the community, the federal government provided some assistance and infrastructure funding, including for houses and paved roads.

Background

Although Guatemala as a whole is fairly tropical, Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan's location in the country's highlands give it a unique micro-climate. Depending on the season, temperatures can range from below freezing at night to over 35 °C (95 °F) during the day, with large swings in between. A lack of cloud cover can make temperature swings very pronounced during the day. The region receives almost no precipitation during the dry season. Like much of rural Guatemala, the village suffers from chronic poverty and low rates of education. Many households lack reliable electricity, and running water is intermittent in the village (usually available for only 30 minutes per day), due to both high elevation and lack of infrastructure. The primary language spoken in the village is Kʼicheʼ, although many villagers (adults and children) also know Spanish.

International Involvement

Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan has attracted attention from numerous international non-profits in recent years. The Rutgers University branch of

Engineers Without Borders The term Engineers Without Borders (EWB; french: Ingénieurs sans frontières, ISF) is used by a number of non-governmental organizations in various countries to describe their activity based on engineering and oriented to international development ...

is currently (2011) re-designing and repairing the village's water supply system, with scheduled completion by December 2011. Additionally, the

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

-based non-profit Appropriate Technology Collaborative has been leading student project teams from

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

, the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and Michigan State University to work on energy, water, and health issues in the village since 2007. All projects are available online at no cost.

Photos

Image:Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan 1.JPG Image:Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan 2.JPG Image:Nueva Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan 3.JPG File:Herbert.Ixtahucan.jpg

References

External links

The Appropriate Technology CollaborativeSustainable Design Update
{{Sololá Department Populated places in the Sololá Department