Tag Archives: San German

San German Adventure to Porta Coeli and Waterfall Charco La Cabra

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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San German: A Spooky Colonial City

This week we went to San German to do an “estudio” at the beautiful and modern Hospital de la Concepción. Everything went quickly and well so we had time to explore the downtown area a little more after.

Hospital de la concepcion
Clean, professional, efficient and inexpensive medical care!

As we wandered the streets on a Tuesday afternoon we wondered where everyone was! It felt like a ghost town! Downtown San German has a very old, very colonial feel to it especially with its cobblestone and brick roads and ancient buildings.

San German
Quiet streets and mountains in the distance

San German city
Old town San German

San German plaza
Where is everyone??

The one that caught my eye the most as we mosied around I found out was Porta Coeli an old church-turned-museum that was built in 1606. Unfortunately the museum wasn’t open on that Tuesday, but we took photos from the outside.

Old Church San German
Porta Coeli from the old town plaza -very mission style

Cassie off the wall

Cassie church Cassie brick wall Britton church
The stories these walls could tell!

We walked around a bit and took pictures of other buildings and the currently used church which is beautiful as well, but definitely didn’t have the kind of eerie cool feeling that Porta Coeli had in its draw to me.

San German church
Modern Church

Cobblestone streets
Modern church and historic cobblestone roads

Old bldg flowers
A beautiful city!

It was an interesting little walk around the town even if it did have a spooky feel to it. If you’ve ever visited New Orleans, you know what I mean. There is a deep and dark history that puts a sort of shadowy filter over everything it touches. There were virtually no shops open except one. And I smelled it before I saw it. Incense! We walked into the bright little shop and talked with the friendly young clerk. There was a lot of incienso, crystals and religious articles like candles with saints on them. In the glass cases, however, there were other pendants with symbols of things I didn’t recognize though I have seen them on chains worn by many people here. I asked the clerk a lot of questions about what they symbolized and most of them were to bring luck or protection. There was la mano de azabache which is supposed to help ward off the Evil Eye, various warrior Indian heads which were to bring protection, blessed dice and figurines of people who I thought were saints but I learned were Orishas like Chango Macho and Yemaya.

Dos caras
Pendant I saw with 2 caras (faces) to watch your back from bad influences

I asked what type of shop this was called and he said it is a “Botánica” and it was actually rather busy considering there was virtually no one anywhere else in town. From time to time as I looked and asked questions about various articles he would duck behind the counter and fill paper bags with some unknown things and bring them to cars waiting in the street. Other people came in and bought the saint velones (candles) and asked for things in hushed voices. I definitely felt like they knew something more than I did about all of these mystical things! I am realizing there are layers and then there are layers to this Puerto Rican world that are still somewhat mysterious as I try to unravel them in our travels around the island.

Cassie and door edit

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