San Andrés Itzapa is a municipality of Chimaltenango

Chimaltenango (department)

Chimaltenango is a department of Guatemala. The capital is Chimaltenango. Located to the east are the departments of Guatemala, home to Guatemala City, and Sacatepéquez, while also bordered by the departments of El Quiché and Baja Verapaz to the north, Escuintla and Suchitepéquez to the south, and...

, Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

. San Andrés Itzapa is in the eastern region of Chimaltenango, while the district capital lies to the north, Acatenango

Acatenango

Acatenango is a stratovolcano in Guatemala, close to the city of Antigua. The volcano has two peaks, Pico Mayor and Yepocapa which is also known as Tres Hermanas...

 lies to the south and to the east is Parramos

Parramos

Parramos is a municipality in the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala....

. The city occupies an area of 90 square kilometres, with a total of 31,956 inhabitants, who are called Itzapecos.

Origin of the name

San Andres Itzapa (Itzapa means flint) is an ancient town. The village is mentioned in the Annals of the Cakchiquels

Annals of the Cakchiquels

The Annals of the Cakchiquels , is a manuscript written in Kaqchikel, by Francisco Hernández Arana Xajilá in 1571, and completed by his grand son, Francisco Rojas in 1604...

, written in 1571. The Spanish named the area "Itzapa y de San Andrés" in honor of their patron saint, the apostle San Andrés (Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

). The Spanish also called the area "Valle del Durazno" (Valley of the peaches), as the prickly pear

Opuntia

Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...

s common in this area resembled the orchards of home.

Organisation

The city consists of 9 villages: Chicazanga, Chimachoy, Panimaquin, San José Calderas, Yerba Buena, El Aguacate, San José Los Corrales, Xiparquiy, and San José Cajahualten.

Languages

Both Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 and Kaqchiquel

Kaqchikel language

The Kaqchikel, or Kaqchiquel, language is an indigenous Mesoamerican language and a member of the Quichean–Mamean branch of the Mayan languages family. It is spoken by the indigenous Kaqchikel people in central Guatemala...

 are spoken, although migration from other regions has brought an influx of other languages, such as K'iché

K'iche' language

The K’iche’ language is a part of the Mayan language family. It is spoken by many K'iche' people in the central highlands of Guatemala. With close to a million speakers , it is the second-most widely spoken language in the country after Spanish...

 and Tz'utujil

Tz'utujil language

Tz'utujil is a Mayan language spoken by the Tz'utujil people in the region to the south of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. Tz'utujil is closely related to its larger neighbors, Kaqchikel and K'iche'....

.

Flora and fauna

San Andrés Itzapa has several heavily forested areas, which include eucalyptus, poplars, pines, holly, oaks, cypress and other evergreen and deciduous species.

Plants found in San Andrés Itzapa include canaque, casuarina, conacaste, hormigo, grabilea and palo blanco.

Animals include coyote, armadillos, mountain lions, tisote, lynxes, goyoy, kinkajou, squirrels, racoons, wild boars, dove, cayayes, pajuil, and pheasant.

Agricultural products

Wheat, cotton, corn, beans, avocado, chayote, beet, radish, squash, carrot, broccoli, cabbage, coffee and guaque Chile peppers are grown.

Crafts

The municipality is rich in the craftsmanship of leather goods such as knife and machete sheaths, sandals, articles of jade, tables and chairs, ropemaking, and others.

Celebrations

• Convite (the last Saturday of January)
• Feria Titular (from 22 November to 1 December)
• Corpus Christi (late June)
• Corrida de Cintas (15th of September)
• Maximón
  Maximón
  Maximón is a folk saint venerated in various forms by Maya people of several towns in the highlands of Western Guatemala.The origins of his cult are not very well understood by outsiders to the different Mayan religions, but Maximón is believed to be a form of the pre-Columbian Maya god Mam,...
  
  (28th of October)
• Saint Andrew the Apostle (30th of November)

Volunteer Organizations

• Mayapedal - small local NGO dedicated to supporting rural development through the design and production of pedal powered machines, or bicimaquinas.