La Puerta del Diablo
The story
La Puerta del Diablo, or the devil's door, is a natural rock formation southeast of San Salvador that appears to resemble the horns of a devil.
Most geologists and historians agree that the formation was initially one single mass of rock that split and has its current "two horned" shape due to volcanic activity and erosion over thousands of years.
ChatGPT says that there are several folk tales associated with the devil's door:
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The Devil Escaping: In one version, the Devil was being chased by Saint Michael the Archangel and leapt through the mountain, leaving the gap.
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Forbidden Lovers: Another story tells of a young woman taken by the Devil through the gap after her family forbade her relationship.
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Pre-Hispanic Rituals: Some suggest it was a site of ancient indigenous ceremonies, and Spanish colonizers attached the “Devil” name to demonize them.
The site is a great one to visit for it's panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.
The horns & door
The panorama shot below shows the two horns and the door pretty well.
Las peñas
The "horns" are technically, according to science, crags, or peñas in Spanish. The site says there are three crags, or rock cliffs: The two "horns" that you can see on either side and also the one in the middle where I am standing when I took this photo.
The crags each have names (from left to right): El Chulo, El Chulito, and El Chulón. "Chulo" means "cool" (like, "cool dude"). "Chulito" makes it "the little cool one" and "chulón" the big cool one."
Tourism base
Climbing the crags
Creatures along the way
Views from the top
The village you can see in the second picture is Panchimalco, a nearby town that is famous in El Salvador for preserving its indigenous roots.
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