Federico Stories

On November 3 rd , 1658, there was a massive eruption in the San Salvador Volcano. The residents of the surroundings didn't expect it. The volcano had been inactive for centuries. Even the local Amerindians were shocked by such a catastrophic event. They thought this would be the end of their lives. What nobody knew is that at the top of the volcano, a battle was happening. Saint Jerome and the devil were fighting. The devil wanted to erase every Christian, living in the surroundings and Saint Jerome wanted to protect them. Saint Jerome had been chosen as their protector. After several hours, Saint Jerome stopped the devil, but at a great cost. The large majority of the most Christian town was gone for good. The lava covered the entire town. Saint Jerome from heaven guided the residents of the destroyed town to a new location. They called it, Nejapa which in Nawatl means, "River of Ashes." In this place, they started a new life, and they called this eruption, 'El Play...

The Lenca people believed that from the confines of the volcano of San Miguel, a huge flying serpent came from its first eruption. On that day, the place was full of magma and ashes, and the serpent went to take refuge in the enchanted Ulupa Lagoon (figure 1). Figure 1. The Ulupa lagoon. ¹ The Ulupa Lagoon, in the Lenca language, meant: “place of the eels.” It used to look more or less circular, and apparently, it had deep waters. However, it had a unique peculiarity, from there was born a drainage stream that led its excesses to the right bank of the Río Grande de San Miguel River. The lagoon was about 5 km north of the Jocotal Lagoon, in the south or right band, and about 2 km away from the ancient road that joined the extinct populations of Xiriualtique and Elenuayquin, and shortly before reaching the prehistoric lava flows that were thrown the aforementioned volcanic towards the SE, in the direction of the San Juan Lagoon, whose last rebound cuts today The Litoral Hig...