74. Days of joy in Alegría

How to spend joyful days in Alegría?
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- Alegría is a pretty, quiet town in the heart of El Salvador's volcanic mountains, whose name means, as you might have guessed, happiness. Known mainly for its lake, it has many other qualities...
The emerald of America
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- Let's start with the great attraction of this city, the Alegría Lake. Located in the crater of the dormant volcano Tecapa, this lake is mainly made up of sulfur and other volcanic minerals present in the ancient crater, which gives it a bright green color. Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize in Literature, made it famous by calling it the emerald of America.
- The Salvadorans come in number during the weekends to benefit from this small corner of paradise. Two kilometers of walking are enough to go around the lake. Deep only in its center, it is nevertheless advised not to bathe in the lake. For what reason? The toxicity of the sulfur you will tell me. But not only! (Answer in the next paragraph)
Siren of the lake of Alegría
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- It is said that a mermaid lives in the lake and drowns all the handsome and careless young men.
- Now you understand the real reason why I couldn't go swimming...
Hiking on Mount Tecapa
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- If the tour of the lake is not enough activity, climbing around the crater is also possible. It's an hour's climb for sportsmen, on a small path. I deplore a little the presence of garbage on the way thrown by the Salvadorans. Let's pretend that the view of the lake compensates that.
- Once at the top at sixteen hundred meters, at the foot of the telecommunication antenna, there is a great viewpoint and a military base. Oh, I unmasked the main polluters, caught in the act, throwing their used bottles into the forest. Plus, they were practicing shooting at a building and almost destroyed it.
- The path continues until the city of Alegrìa. I have found the way and added it in the map in the gallery.
The coffee fields
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- The region of Alegrìa, surrounded by volcanic peaks, is suitable for the exploitation of coffee. On the slopes of the mountains there are many farms and many bushes with small red, yellow, green, black or orange balls.
- https://youtu.be/O2Kv4l_N9DQ
The garden of the ecological park Carthagena
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- This park pleasantly surprised me. Located behind a restaurant, it includes a very well maintained garden with flowers of all colors. Ideal for a lunch break!
The animals of the ecological park Carthagena
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- What a surprise: this park also has animals in captivity: agoutis, macaws, parakeets, jays, doves and splendid roosters of all colors. Knowing that the roosters here crow at all hours of the day, you will understand that this pretty rainbow of colors for the eyes is also a nightmare for the ears.
- https://youtu.be/iAAewcKlhFo
The watchtower
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- The viewpoint of Las Cien Gradas (hundred steps) where you can see a valley around Alegría. I must admit that I preferred the view from the top of the Tecapa.
The beautiful park
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- Where this statue of Jesus carrying his cross, is very pretty in the center of a beautiful flowerbed.
Flowers
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- Speaking of flowers, the city is endowed with an omnipresent and very varied flora. Whether in the parks, on the front of the houses or in the gardens, it gives all the charm of this city!
The paintings on the walls
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- In El Salvador, the walls of homes are commonly decorated with giant paintings. This is an effective way to get messages across in the country. In Alegría, the walls are covered with beautiful paintings depicting scenes of life in the village more than fifty years ago. Among them, the coffee harvest, the city and the fields.
See the inhabitants work
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- How nice it is to be able to contemplate the city coming to life, not disturbing the inhabitants in their work and... This is Elia Antonio, two years and eleven months old, at work, sweeping the street as her mother showed her... Inhabitants start working very young here 😂.
Berlín - central square
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- To the west of the city of Alegría, Berlín is also a city of character, specializing mainly in the cultivation of coffee, which was very active during the country's civil war. Its central square is decorated with tributes to the heroes of Berlín.
- In addition to visiting this, I tried my hand at local chess with success.
Cerro de la Cruz
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- A small and pleasant walk that leads to the viewpoint of the Berlín cross after an ascent of three hundred meters. This viewpoint being located on another side of the Tecapa volcanic chain, I managed, by climbing another hundred meters, to catch a glimpse of the antenna of the highest peak, but also another lake at the site of another volcanic crater.
- If needed, contact me to get the map with the trail (not available on MAPS.ME and Google Maps).
Coffee silo
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- The highlight of this climb is my rewarded curiosity. At an intersection on a pass, I discover a coffee silo, with active workers and an armed guard - normal in El Salvador. I ask if I can have a look. Five minutes later, I get permission from the person in charge. The opportunity to discover the varieties of coffee, which can be assembled to give different flavors to the coffee finally sold in the store.
- How to recognize the varieties? The trees vary in size from one to two meters and the seeds can be of very different colors: yellow ones that will become golden/orange as they ripen, red ones that will become darker and darker, green ones that will end up black.
- After picking, the seeds will dry for fifteen days in full sun, being turned regularly like this:
- https://youtu.be/NddxJoea1_E
- The farm has a control field nearby that contains each variety of coffee. This makes it easy to monitor each species without having to go to the different fields. How convenient!
- https://youtu.be/DgDx0GWf-pM
Santiago de Maria
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- The other town from where you can get to Alegría. The central park is very nice and you can play checkers there. It is original: the pieces are capsules.
- I stayed there for three days of Couchsurfing (a site to sleep in the house of a local) at Guillermo's place.
Access
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- It is not easy to get to Alegría from any tourist place. From the south, it is necessary to stop at El Triunfo. From the north, it is better to go through Usulutan. A microbus will take you to Santiago de Maria and the next one to Alegría.
- There is a site that gives very good logistical information about Central American countries and I recommend it particularly for El Salvador: it is Cendro Coasting.
- https://centrocoasting.com/
Alegría is worth a stop!
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- In summary, this destination combining culture and nature deserves its presence on the travel books in Central America.

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