The cleft
A gap between two huge rocks.
SaraíMorales — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Metztli — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Telstar — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pabloqp20 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · feinteriano — CC BY-SA 3.0
Puerta del Diablo, the «Devil's Door», is a rock formation and park in the Panchimalco district south of San Salvador. Its main sight is a deep cleft between two huge rocks on the El Chulo hill, whose tops give a wide view over the land around. It lies about 8 km in a straight line from the National Theatre in the capital. The historian Jorge Lardé y Larín wrote that the two rocks took their shape after heavy rains in early October 1762, when floods undercut the hill and part of it crashed into the ravine. The name «Devil's Door» was coined by the poet Raúl Contreras. A local legend tells that the devil carried off a landowner's daughter and, chased by her father, fled by splitting the mountains apart, a story told locally rather than history. Rocky paths lead to the top of the rocks, revealing forested green hills, small villages in the valleys, and on clear days Lake Ilopango and volcanoes on the horizon. The park sits in Los Planes de Renderos at more than 1,000 metres, so it is cooler than the capital. The drops are sheer and unfenced in places, so keep well back from the edges and avoid climbing after rain. Balboa Park is 1 km away, and the two make an easy half day from the capital.
A gap between two huge rocks.
Hills, villages and a lake beyond.
Cooler than the capital.
Los Planes de Renderos, Panchimalco, San Salvador, El Salvador
The poet Raúl Contreras coined it, and a local legend goes with it.
Keep back from the sheer edges and avoid it after rain.