Alegria

Alegria sits at around 1,250 metres on the flank of the Tecapa volcano in the coffee country of Usulutan, cool enough that flowers grow well and the town has built a business on it: nurseries and flower stalls fill the streets and the plaza, and the town markets itself on that. Above it is the Laguna de Alegria, a small crater lake in the Tecapa cone whose water is greenish and sulphurous from geothermal input, with steam vents around the rim and a path around the shore, reached by a rough road up from the town. The plaza has a church, painted houses and coffee shops, and the surrounding hills are planted with shade coffee.

History

The area was first inhabited by the Lenca people, and the settlement was called Tecapa, a Nahuat name meaning "lagoon of stones" after the crater lake above it; under Spanish rule it remained a small farming outpost. In 1838 the priest and scholar José Miguel Alegría opened a school of philosophy here that drew students from across the region and made the town an intellectual centre, and after his death the Legislative Assembly renamed Tecapa as Alegría on 17 February 1891 in his honour (Wikipedia, Alegría, El Salvador).

What's there

• The flower nurseries - the stalls and gardens through the town.
• Laguna de Alegria - the sulphurous crater lake above the town.
• Steam vents - the geothermal activity around the lake rim.
• Coffee country - the shade plantations on the surrounding hills.

When to go

November to April in the dry season; the town is cool year round and can be cold at night. The lagoon road is rough in the rains. Weekends bring visitors from the capital and the east.

What to expect

The lagoon is small and its water sulphurous and not for swimming. The road up to it is rough and often needs four-wheel drive. The town is small and takes half a day. Cloud sits on the hills often.

Nearby

Berlin lies west; Santiago de Maria is below.

Key facts