Alegría is a municipality in the Department of Usulután, which is located at 1250 meters above the sea level and 122 kilometers from San Salvador. This charming place has many attractions, including the lagoon of Alegría, named by Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral, as “The Emerald of America”, this Lagoon is formed in the crater of the volcano Tecapa, surrounded by Rocky walls and abundant vegetation, classified as a humid subtropical forest.
The area has trails and keeps parks, ideal place for adventure activities such as the hiking, camping and eco-tourism. The walk from the village is 3 km. There are about about 200 homemade variety of floral and ornamental plants nursery in Alegría, several restaurants and hostels receive tourists seeking the tranquility of this eastern town.
This village has a very curious story about its origin, its former name and the reason for the current. The story that in a mid-17TH century the Pipil founded in the sierra of Chinameca two twin towns which were separated by a street. Tecapa “lagoon of stones” Zapotitán “zapotes city”, but many years later, in 1890 he died the most beloved priest of the population: José Miguel Alegría, whose body was buried in the parish church of Tecapa. It was as well as in 1891 it changed the name of Tecapa by Alegría in honor to one of the most beloved characters of the people.
This city is well known for its beautiful lagoon that lies in the interior of the crater of the volcano Tecapa. The lagoon of Alegría is one of the most beautiful places that has El Salvador, has hot springs and fumaroles.
