Charco El Hippie

Location: Naguabo

Getting there: From San Juan, drive 1 hour to the south side of El Yunque. You’ll drive down a small road through a country neighborhood until it ends at someone’s house. You’ll have to park in an extremely small lot on their property for $5.00 per car. Walk 3 – 5 minutes up the a gradual hill to get to the charco. You’ll be able to see it looking down from the road. You’ll have to scramble down a short walky trail to get to the water.

Things to do: Get in the water – There is a shallow area where you can enter the water, some shallow rocks to sit on, and deeper areas to swim around. Once you get close to the small waterfall you’ll feel a current strong enough that makes it hard to reach the white water. Cliff jump – There is a good spot to climb up the rock on the far side of the charco. You’ll pass a swing on the way up. Jump out straight or to the left, there is a shallow rock on the right side.

Heads up: Before you jump off the rock on the far side of the charco, get in the water and check the depth so you know where it and is not safe to jump. The first time I went, there was a line of people waiting to jump, and I jumped several times. The next time, I jumped once and a local guy told me that a tourist and jumped and broken his leg that same week. I swam over and sure enough there was a shallow rock to the right of where you jump. The water level may fluctuate.