Introducing Western El Salvador

Western El Salvador is a beautiful part of the country, and a must for an El Salvador itinerary. Three of the country's six tallest volcanoes are here, including the stark black cone of Volcán Izalco and the hulking Volcán Santa Ana, its sides crisscrossed with coffee trees. Santa Ana is one of El Salvador's most appealing large cities, while small colonial towns and indigenous villages pepper the famed Ruta de las Flores. Rounding out the region's attractions are the exuberantly blue Lago de Coatepeque, the country's best archaeological sites, and three national parks with hikes for all experience levels and vistas that will make your heart stop. And, unlike many other parts of El Salvador, traveling here is a breeze, with frequent public transportation, well-maintained roads, recommended guided excursions, charming hotels that don't cost an arm and a leg, and even camping. Local residents are open and gracious, and are increasingly accustomed to foreign travelers.

Western El Salvador is the country's main coffee-growing region, having eclipsed Alegría and San Vicente in overall production. You'll quickly learn to recognize the waxy leaves of coffee trees, and taller trees planted in huge grid patterns to block the wind. However, for all that coffee has brought the region (and country) in jobs and income, it has also been the vehicle of tremendous division and inequality. In January 1932, indigenous coffee workers mounted a short-lived uprising against slave-like working conditions, killing around a hundred landowners and officials; in response the Salvadoran army systematically killed some 30, 000 indigenous peasants, especially around the western towns of Izalco, Nahuizalco and Juayúa, in what is now known as La Matanza (The Slaughter). Working conditions have improved immensely since then, but harvesting coffee remains a difficult and low-paid job.