Cueva del Indio

Location: Arecibo

Getting there: From San Juan, drive 1 hour to the north coast municipality of Arecibo. You’ll get off the freeway and drive along the coast. To your left you’ll see a massive statue looming large over the tree line. Once you pass the statue of Christopher Colombus the dirt parking lot for the cave won’t be much further. The plot of land that surrounds the cave is privately owned, so to get to it, you’ll need to pay them $10 per person to walk there. I recently learned that there is a way to get there for free, but there is limited parking. It’s nearby, park here or on the road close to the pin if there is room. Across from the pin is a sign and a trail that takes you to a rocky coastline. Walk up the rocks on your left. You’ll see an awesome cliff face with a kind of sea cave below and several arches in sight. Carefully walk along the rock with the sea to your right until you get there.

Things to do: You can walk along the rocky cliff to see the ocean’s waves slamming into the rock and spraying water. If the waves are too violent, it’s possible that the cave may not be safe to enter. During the summer you may find the water totally calm. It is during this season that some rock climbers come here to climb a “deep water solo” route on the sharp, rocky cliff face near the cave. The trail you set out from the parking lot on will lead you to the cave. The “cave” is not completely covered. There is a large opening from above that will allow you to see down into the cave, and see some amount of petroglyphs from there. Is that experience worth $10 per person? Absolutely not. There is a way to get into the cave. As of 2023, the only way to get down there is through an inconspicuous crack in the wall facing the viewpoint into the cave. Sneak through that small slit in the rock, spiderman-walk along the two walls avoiding the drop below, and hop to a rock dodging a steep fall. I am pretty confident with these types of shenanigans but while performing these acrobatics I was thinking “This is seriously unsafe.” I hardly saw anyone else attempt the passage. Most people will second-guess the attempt once they see what they are up against and would be right to do so.

Heads up: There was once a ladder that allowed you to descend into the cave to see the petroglyphs up close like you see in the photo. That ladder is now gone. The only way to get into the cave is by the method mentioned above, which won’t be possible for everyone.