Cuba Travel Guide - The Bellamar Caves

The Bellamar Caves were discovered by chance inmany of its formations are shining due to the
February 1861 when a slave lost his crowbar trying tocrystalline layer that covers them. The visitor enters
remove a limestone rock. The owner of the farm,the cave by a room named Gothic, a square
Don Manuel Santos Praga, surprised, ordered to digchamber that is 80 meters long and 25 meters wide
there and thus, the entrance of the cave was found.where amazing rock formations can be admired, such
Enterprising as he was, ordered to build masonryas The Carrots Garden, The Chapel of the 12
staircases in use today, installed banisters and withApostles, Mrs. Mamerta, and the most famous of all,
the pass of time, installed electric bulbs. He personallyColumbus´ Cloak.
became the tourist guide while taking the visitorsOther caverns are The Gallery of the Two Lakes,
through the alleys of the cave and explaining to themThe Sponge Room, The Gallery of the Dwarfs, and
what they were seeing. During the first two years,The Gallery of the Megalocnus to the east side of
more than 2 thousand people visited the place, andthe Gothic Room. Heading in the opposite direction,
nowadays, those caves are the most visited caves inthe visitor can find the Hatuey Alley, The Room of
Cuba.the Ladies, The Lake of the Dhalias, and the very
Only 3 miles away from Matanzas City, expertspopular Bathroom of the American Woman.
estimate that the caves began their formationThe area already explored covers 1.5 miles in length,
around 300 thousand years ago when the plainsgive or take, but it is known that the extension is
where the caves are now were under the sea. Thelarger than that, around 12 miles having flooded
tectonic movements made the area rise until formingchambers. The air can be breathed and the
the marine terraces that can be seen in Matanzastemperature is almost stable all year long, around 26
and its surroundings. With time, these caves wereC.
emptying and the filtration among the rocks beganSpecialized public bodies have counted more than 10
above the roofs of the caves; filtered waters thatthousand caves all over Cuba, many of which date
contained carbonate of dissolved lime left residuesfrom 25 million years of evolution; however, up to
while dripping, ultimately forming stalactites from thethis day the Bellamar Caves is the favorite of the
roof and stalagmites from the ground.people and the eldest tourist center of Cuba.
These caves have a very strange beauty because