The paintings
Faces and symbols.
Danu Widjajanto — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Danu Widjajanto — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Danu Widjajanto — CC BY-SA 4.0
An underground limestone cave whose name means «cave of wonders», a national park between San Pedro de Macorís and La Romana, running about 800 metres at some 25 metres below ground; until 1949 it was known as the Jaguar Cave. It is famous for hundreds of rock paintings made by the Taíno, the island's first people, on its walls in charcoal and pigment: faces, human figures, animals and ritual symbols, among the most important rock-art groups in the Caribbean. Visitors enter on a guided tour along paved, carefully lit walkways and stairs, through wide halls hung with stalactites and studded with stalagmites, as the guide explains the paintings and Taíno life. The tour takes about an hour, and the air inside is humid and warm. Flash photography and touching the walls are banned to protect the paintings. The cave sits on the highway, so it fits in on the way to or from Bayahibe.
Faces and symbols.
Stalactites and stalagmites.
With a guide.
Highway between San Pedro de Macorís and La Romana, about 10 km west of La Romana
The Taíno, the island's people before the Spanish arrived, in charcoal and pigment on the cave walls.