In the heart of the Colonial Zone you will find the most famous and more historical street of Santo Domingo, this street is called El Conde Peatonal, such street is only for pedestrian walk, cars are not allowed to transit here.

El Conde Pedestrian Street had its beginning in the 1st part of XVI Century.  As years passed the street was expanding to the west and ended in the old city gate, which has the same name of this street (Puerta del Conde).

According to the books of Dominican history the street was named after Conde de Peñalba who faced the English invasion in 1655.

Nowadays, El Conde Street has wide range of stores.  It has apartments with stores on the 1st floor and the rest of the floors are houses.  It is one of the few zones in the world in which you can “rent clothes” in order to have access to some historical monuments; this is a requirement to get in.

Stores offer a great variety of items but since it is mainly visited by tourists from other countries, most of the items represent Dominican culture and custom. To get to El Conde Street you have Parque Independencia in Km. 0 of Independencia Avenue as a reference, right in front of Puerta Del Conde at Colonial Zone.

Its former name was Cueva Jagual, until 1949 when its actual name La Cueva de las Maravillas was given.

Within the cave we can appreciate around 500 paints on wall and engravings where black and red colors are predominant; they were made by tainos, ancient inhabitants of the island. This kind of picture is called cave art.

Since it is an underground place, the predominant fauna of this place is the bat but we can also find some reptiles and insects such as the anolis.

The walk through Cueva de las Maravillas lasts around 35 minutes; it is accomplished by groups of 20 or less people addressed by a guide. In order to protect the cave paintings several actions are forbidden: taking pictures (how do I get this …) or video record, using musical devices, throwing garbage inside the cave, scratching the walls (a legal action could be taken because of this); it is recommended to speak in low voice during the tour.

One information we must have in mind is that the cave has an inside elevator to make oldest, children and handicapped people tour easier.  Other interesting information is that we must wear comfortable clothes at visiting this place because it is a cave located in a tropical country so the weather is very humid and hot.

Cueva de las Maravillas
Location:  San Pedro de Macorís main road – La Romana
Schedule: Tuesdays to Sundays 9:00 A.M – 6:00 P.M (open on holly days)