Pajapita | |
---|---|
Municipality | |
Coordinates: 14°43′00″N92°02′00″W / 14.71667°N 92.03333°W | |
Country | Guatemala |
Department | San Marcos |
Government | |
• Mayor (2016-2020) | Walter López [1] (UCN) |
Population (2018 census) [2] | |
• Municipality | 21,725 |
• Urban | 6,817 |
Climate | Am |
Pajapita is a town and municipality in the San Marcos department of Guatemala.It was created on 31 May 1920, after the station of Vado Ancho on the Panamerican Railroad of Guatemala was built. Due to its privileged location on the way from Guatemala to Mexico, Pajapita enjoyed considerable development while the Guatemalan railways were owned by International Railways of Central America (IRCA}, an American company that belonged to the United Fruit Company. However, with the decline of the rail that followed the constructions of major highways in the country the importance of the town of Vado Ancho diminished, to the point that in the early 21st century it was completely abandoned.
Pajapita is called also "Land of the Almond trees".
Pajapita started developing with the construction of the Vado Ancho railroad terminal in the 1900s. On April 18, 1902, thanks to his excellent personal rapport with then president Manuel Estrada Cabrera, pharmacist and writer Antonio Macías del Real won the concession to build the Panamerican Railroad of Guatemala sections between Las Cruces, Retalhuleu and Vado Ancho in Pajapita; however, he could not finish the line to Coatepeque in Quetzaltenango Department and had to give away his rights to the Central Railway Company, who finished the section. [3] The original contract with Macías del Real had been extremely generous and had been signed by the lieutenant secretary of Economy, José Flamenco and approved by Estrada Cabrera; the contract authorized the exclusivity on the construction and usage of the railroad for twenty four years, counting from the moment the section was open to the public. [4] Besides, Macías del Real and his descendants would have enjoyed the revenue from the railway for 99 years, after which the line was supposed to go back to the State of Guatemala. [5]
Pajapita has tropical climate (Köppen: Am).
Climate data for Pajapita | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Average high °C (°F) | 33.7 (92.7) | 34.1 (93.4) | 35.0 (95.0) | 34.7 (94.5) | 34.2 (93.6) | 32.7 (90.9) | 33.2 (91.8) | 33.4 (92.1) | 32.8 (91.0) | 32.6 (90.7) | 32.8 (91.0) | 33.0 (91.4) | 33.5 (92.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.4 (79.5) | 26.8 (80.2) | 27.9 (82.2) | 28.3 (82.9) | 28.4 (83.1) | 27.4 (81.3) | 27.6 (81.7) | 27.7 (81.9) | 27.4 (81.3) | 27.2 (81.0) | 26.9 (80.4) | 26.4 (79.5) | 27.4 (81.2) |
Average low °C (°F) | 19.2 (66.6) | 19.5 (67.1) | 20.9 (69.6) | 22.0 (71.6) | 22.7 (72.9) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.1 (71.8) | 22.1 (71.8) | 22.1 (71.8) | 21.8 (71.2) | 21.0 (69.8) | 19.8 (67.6) | 21.3 (70.3) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 6 (0.2) | 7 (0.3) | 23 (0.9) | 96 (3.8) | 245 (9.6) | 420 (16.5) | 316 (12.4) | 329 (13.0) | 429 (16.9) | 373 (14.7) | 80 (3.1) | 16 (0.6) | 2,340 (92) |
Source: Climate-Data.org [6] |
Pajapita is surrounded by San Marcos Department municipalities, except by the southeast, where it borders Coatepeque, a Quetzaltenango Department municipality. [7]
Chimaltenango is a city in Guatemala with a population of 96,985. It serves as both the capital of the department of Chimaltenango and the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. Chimaltenango stands some 56 kilometres (35 mi) west of Guatemala City, on the Pan-American Highway. The municipal capital produces textiles and pottery.
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Natalia Górriz de Morales was a Guatemalan teacher, pedagogue, and the founder of the Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas in 1888. In 1892, the government of General José María Reina Barrios promoted her to the post of Inspector General of Girls' Schools in Guatemala City. She wrote a book dedicated to Christopher Columbus in honor of that year's fourth centenary of his landing. Her teaching career was put on hold when she married Próspero Morales, in 1894, but after his death in 1898, she started teaching again.
Rafael Spínola was a writer, journalist, politician and public speaker from Guatemala. Director of the well known cultura magazine La Ilustración Guatemalteca in 1896 and 1897, was Secretary of Infrastructure in Manuel Estrada Cabrera first presidential term. He also created the "Fiestas Minervalias", which were a celebration to the studious youth and the president Estrada Cabrera rule. He was also the one that signed the treaty granting the American company "The Central American Improvement Co. Inc." to finish the Northern Railroad -which had been left unfinished after president José María Reina Barrios assassination on 8 February 1898–, which would be the stepping stone for the operations of the United Fruit Company in Guatemala. He was the father of Guatemalan poetesse Magdalena Spínola (1896–1991).
Antonio Macías del Real (1866–1939) was a Spanish writer and pharmacist that moved to Guatemala where he wrote for most prestigious cultural publications. Among his articles are those that we wrote for La Ilustración Guatemalteca during the last year of general José María Reina Barrios presidency. When the president was assassinated on 8 February 1898, Macías del Real wrote Perfiles biográficos de don Manuel Estrada Cabrera (Biographical profiles of Mr. Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who had been appointed as interim President; Macias del Real kept writing on behalf of the new president since then. In 1902 his adulation paid off, as Estrada Cabrera granted him the Pacific Railroad concession. According to Guatemalan historian Rafael Arévalo Martínez in his book ¡Ecce Pericles!, Macías del Real -a pharmacist graduated from Universidad Central de Madrid and later incorporated in Guatemala- was the one that gave Estrada Cabrera a potent venom that the latter used to get rid of his opponents.
Próspero Morales was a Guatemalan lawyer who served as Secretary of Infrastructure, War and Public Instruction during José María Reina Barrios administration. Two year after being in office, Morales married the well known Guatemalan teacher Natalia Górriz. Morales resigned as Secretary on 5 March 1897 in order to run for president for the upcoming presidential elections; however, due to the failure of the Exposición Centroamericana and the severe economic crisis that Guatemala was undergoing at the time, due to the plummeting of coffee and silver international prices, general Reina Barrios suspended the elections and forcibly extended his tenure until 1902. Morales then joined the revolution that was brewing in Quetzaltenango, but the rebels were defeated on 14 September 1897. After Reina Barrios assassination on 8 February 1898, he unsuccessfully tried to overthrow interim president Manuel Estrada Cabrera–who also had served as Secretary under Reina Barrios–but was repelled by the forces of former president Manuel Lisandro Barillas.
The Northern Railroad of Guatemala was a railway system that ran from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios, the main port of Guatemala, between 1896 and 1968. The American United Fruit Company had the monopoly of the railway system through its affiliate, International Railways of Central America, along with the docks at Puerto Barrios, the banana plantations in Izabal and the cargo and passenger transport with its Great White Fleet. The system was highly efficient, but once a parallel highway was built, it could not compete and eventually was handed back to the State of Guatemala in 1968. After that, the system slowly lost its relevance, as the trucks were more profitable than railway transportation along this route. It ceased regular operations in 1996, and has remained partially abandoned since.
Joaquina Cabrera was the de facto First Lady of Guatemala and mother of Guatemalan President Manuel Estrada Cabrera. She had a large amount of influence on her son's government and she would be honored on her birthday after her death as if she were still alive. Her funeral, which took place on 4–5 July 1908, began in Guatemala City and traveled through Amatitlán, Escuintla and Mazatenango before returning by train to her home town of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.