Parque Nacional Cotubanamá has more than 400 caves, many of which contain TaÃno pictographs (cave paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings). Archaeologists have found several structures and artifacts in and around the caves, including what appears to be the remains of a large (perhaps the largest) TaÃno city and the site of a notorious massacre of indigenous people by Spanish soldiers. Only one of the caves that contain TaÃno pictographs, Cueva del Puente, can be easily visited.
It is partially collapsed, but has a modest number of TaÃno pictures, mostly depicting animals and human-like figures that may represent people or deities. The cave also has some impressive stalagmites and stalactites.
To visit Cueva del Puente, you must first stop in the park office in Bayahibe and pay your admission fee. Then you must drive to the national park entrance at Guaraguao, 5km past Dominicus Americanus (turn right 350m down a dirt road after the Cadaques Caribe Resort) and a guard will guide you to the cave – it’s a little over 3km, about a 40-minute walk; you’ll need a flashlight and good shoes. South of here is Cueva Penon Gordo, a smaller cave but with more pictographs.
