Santa Lucía Church
White towers on the square.
Jose Quintanilla — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photoprojectsv — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Erickssonr — CC BY-SA 3.0 · JosueArguera — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Roberto Alas — CC BY-SA 3.0
Juayúa is a small mountain town in western El Salvador on the Flower Route, known for its murals, coffee farms and food festival. A large white church faces its central square, visitors come at weekends, and it makes a good base for short walks in the green hills. It was a Pipil town before the Spanish, with about 300 people in 1550, and was founded formally in 1577. The Church of Santa Lucía has been built three times: an earthquake destroyed the first and fire the second, and the present one was finished in 1957. It holds a late sixteenth-century statue of the Black Christ, drawing the faithful from 1 to 15 January. You see a church with white towers, columns and red details on the square, with cafés and shops around. Town walls are covered in murals by local artists, many showing flowers. At weekends food stalls fill the square with pupusas, tamales and chicken soup, and some serve yuca with pork, so ask about ingredients. Los Chorros de la Calera waterfall lies nearby. The town is 14 km in a straight line north of Sonsonate and about 80 km from San Salvador. The hike to the waterfall passes through coffee farms, so take a local guide and suitable shoes. The square gets crowded at weekends, so book your stay early. The church is a place of worship, so dress modestly, and watch your belongings in crowds.
White towers on the square.
Local art on the walls.
A walk through coffee farms.
Central Juayúa, Sonsonate Department
Usually at weekends, on the central square.
A tourist route linking mountain towns such as Juayúa and Ataco.