It had been a long while since we last visited San German and Porta Coeli church. Every time we’ve gone there, it has been closed. But this time, we lucked out! We got to tour the inside and even heard ghost stories. It cost $5 per person which seemed a bit high for how small the church is, but it’s good to help keep it and the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena going. It is one of the oldest churches in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in general so it was nice to see that it hadn’t been damaged by the recent earthquakes. I learned that Porta Coeli is pronounced Cheli and that it means the door to heaven! As we were there, they were setting up for the jazz night in the plaza that happens pretty regularly on Thursday nights.

Outside the church

Inside the cathedral that is only very rarely used

I loved the arched doorways

Through the arch you can see the old colonial town

We enjoyed walking around downtown to the other church area

Here’s the full video:

Next up in our day trip, we thought we would check out Charco El Pilon in San German. From the map it looked like it was only about 20 minutes from the downtown.  However, once we got on the road, and especially as we entered the natural forest reserve we realized this was going to be a much more difficult drive and require a 4×4 vehicle. So we decided to stop and walk around a bit in the jungle near a river when lo and behold, we found another beautiful waterfall! Later I asked what waterfall it could be and it is called Charco La Cabra, a very unknown little fall and pool. It is always so cool to find the off-the-road waterfalls because places like Gozalandia are now getting WAY too crowded and touristy.

Walking into Charco La Cabra

I didn’t see any cabras (goats) but we did see a cow, a duck and a pig!

Scrambling over rocks in the river

Britton at La Cabra

A cool natural grotto we found

Chillin’ riverside

It was a wonderful day out and we’ll be back to search for Charco El Pilon and Charco La Iglesia in San German soon!

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