Cabuya

About Cabuya:

Cabuya covers 62.3 km² of hill country north of Santa Rita and east of Antón town. Its ground sits around 500 metres up on average, rising to almost 700 at upper hamlets such as El Aromo and La Laguna. From the Interamericana there are two paved ways in, through Santa Rita or through El Chirú, and Cabuya village lies 6.8 km beyond Santa Rita, roughly twenty minutes from the highway. A third road leaves the village northwards, crosses the shoulder of Cerro Cara Iguana and drops into El Valle de Antón. Farmers have long preferred it for taking produce to the El Valle market because it is shorter, and the Municipality of Antón keeps working on the Cara Iguana stretch, compacting and laying new material, with further improvements inspected in 2026.

The village itself has schools and a handful of shops, and the turn-off towards Matapalo crosses the Río Hato at a ford. Around it lie hamlets such as Matapalo, El Macano, El Macanito, El Guanábano, El Aromo, Bajo de la Cruz, Los Alveos and Roma. El Macano has its own school and a chapel to the Virgen del Carmen, its patron, and every 25 November the whole corregimiento marks its founding with school parades. Ask about the name and you may hear two stories: one credits the cabuya plant, whose fibre went into the hats made in this area, the other a river fish of the same name. The population has barely moved in a generation, from 1,852 in 1990 to 2,119 in 2010 and 2,092 at the 2023 census, and many families still farm mainly to feed themselves.

The northern edge of Cabuya is the outer wall of the El Valle caldera, and that is where visitors come from. The Ruta de la Caldera, the network of trails the tourism authority opened around the old volcano at the end of 2022, uses rural roads through Cabuya and El Macano. The Cara Iguana trail follows the ridge above the corregimiento to lookouts over the valley, and from El Macano hikers set off up Cerro La Silla. Cerro Cara Iguana is also a protected water reserve. Around five streams rise on it and supply communities across Antón district, so the forest on that ridge is off limits to clearing.

Buyers arrive from two directions. From the Santa Rita side, people look for a lot on the asphalt with power, water and internet at the gate, a quiet country base twenty minutes from the highway. From the El Valle side, the draw is cooler nights, views of both the mountains and the Pacific, and being a few minutes from El Valle’s supermarket without paying El Valle’s prices. Small tourism projects sit in between: a campground with cabins already operates at Los Alveos, on the main road into Cabuya, and land on the road to El Valle is offered with cabins in mind.

Land and Lots in Cabuya:

Lots on the paved road up from Santa Rita are where most buyers start. A 4,570 m² country lot at 650 metres, right on the main asphalt road with electricity, water and internet available, asks only a few dollars per square metre, and 1,000 m² lots come up in Roma. Near El Macano the numbers change: a 5,300 m² parcel with sea and mountain views, its own well pumping 25 gallons a minute and a last 2 km of dirt road asks around five times as much per square metre, because it is 3 km from El Valle’s supermarket. When you compare land for sale in Cabuya, weigh the distance to El Valle against the state of that final stretch.

Fincas in Cabuya:

Larger parcels are rarely bought just to farm. On the road to El Valle, a 2.78-hectare tract is offered as a site for a cabin project, and a titled 7-hectare finca in the Ruta de la Caldera area near El Macano is priced against El Valle land rather than against pasture. Below them, most of the corregimiento is worked land, planted with food crops or grazed by a few head of cattle. If you are after a finca in Cabuya, expect slopes, streams and patches of forest, and remember that felling timber needs a permit from the Ministry of Environment, which does check on cutting around El Macano.

FAQ:

• Is land in El Macano part of El Valle de Antón?

  No. El Macano and the neighbouring hamlets on the outer slope of the crater belong to Cabuya, even when an advert calls them El Valle because the town is only a few kilometres away. Check which corregimiento appears on the survey plan and in the property registry, and do not assume that El Valle’s paved streets or town water reach the lot. Price the parcel on what is actually at the gate.

• Which road should I use to reach Cabuya?

  From the Interamericana, take the asphalt through Santa Rita or El Chirú; Cabuya village is 6.8 km past Santa Rita. From El Valle, the road over Cerro Cara Iguana is shorter but has stretches the municipality keeps regrading. Drive whichever route serves your parcel in October as well as in March, because that last section decides how easy the place is to live in.

• What should I check before buying land near Cerro Cara Iguana?

  Start with the reserve boundary. Cerro Cara Iguana is a protected water reserve, so ask for the survey plan and confirm with the Ministry of Environment that no part of the parcel falls inside it or within the protected strip along a stream. Then make sure the land is a titled finca in the property registry rather than possession rights only, and on inherited hill farms that every heir has signed and the succession is registered.

• Where does the water come from?

  Much of Antón’s water starts on Cerro Cara Iguana, and parcels near the village can connect to the community system. Higher up, owners often rely on a private well: one El Macano parcel advertises a pump delivering 25 gallons a minute. Ask what feeds the property, who runs the aqueduct and whether the lot is already registered as a user.

• Can I build cabins for visitors in Cabuya?

  People already do. A campground with cabins runs at Los Alveos, and hikers on the Ruta de la Caldera pass through Cabuya and El Macano. Before you buy for that purpose, confirm with the Municipality of Antón what you can build on the parcel, and make sure a guest’s ordinary car can get there in the rainy season.