Caguas Valley (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

: ''Valle de Caguas''), or the Caguas-Juncos Valley and popularly referred to as the Turabo Valley (Spanish: ''Valle del Turabo''), is a large valley lying between the

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

and the Sierra de Luquillo in the eastern part of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, immediately south of San Juan.

Geography

In a clockwise direction, the valley is bound by the ''Altos de La Mesa'' and '' Altos de San Luis'' mountain ridges to the north, the Sierra de Luquillo in the northeast, the San Lorenzo Batholith in the east and southeast, the

Sierra de Cayey Sierra de Cayey is a mountain range in the main island of Puerto Rico. It is located in the southeast section of the island. Its elevations do not exceed 1000 m (3,280 ft.). The Grande de Loíza, which is one of the most important rivers in Puer ...

in the south, and the foothills of the ''

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

'' in the west. This valley is fed mainly by the Grande de Loíza River, the largest hydrological basin in Puerto Rico, and numerous tributaries such as the Cagüitas, along which the contemporary settlement of

Caguas Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founded i ...

was built. The name Valle del Turabo ("Turabo Valley") comes from the Turabo River, which is another tributary that flows from the south. The Gurabo River, another major tributary, feeds into the Grande de Loíza at a region where the valley narrows into a

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear de ...

, often called the Gurabo Valley, that runs from west to east and ends in Las Piedras and Humacao in the southeastern coast of the island.

Geology

The Caguas Valley, from

to Juncos, is formed by

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

alluvial deposits that lay on top of hardened rock of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

origin,

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock ( magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...

, and intrusive and

metamorphic rocks Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, cau ...

that date from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

to the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non- avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

period. There are also small deposits of limestone. Except for the alluvium zone, the rocks in the basin do not generate large

aquifers An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

due to their low permeability. The alluvium in the valley includes non-uniform mixtures of

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a soil texture, textur ...

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classif ...

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel wh ...

and mud, varying in thickness from 0 feet in with consolidated rocks to 160 feet in Caguas and Gurabo. In the area towards Gurabo and Juncos the alluvium contains more sand and gravel than in the area of Caguas; these alluvial deposits form the main aquifer in the area. The flows of the Loíza River and its tributaries, mainly the Gurabo River, have eroded most alluvial deposits within the fluvial flood zones.

Climate

The climate of the Caguas-Juncos Valley is rainy, with areas receiving up to 100 inches of precipitation annually. Rain varies throughout the year with the dry period lasting from January to April, the rainiest period being from May to June, the driest period from July to August, and the period of heavy rains lasting until the end of the year.

''La India Dormida''

''La India Dormida'' (Spanish for "the sleeping Indian

oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

) is a famous geographical landmark for locals in the Valley of Caguas. Although often called a mountain, this is actually a group of mountains that through

forced perspective Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation ...

(when seen from the north) form the shape of a sleeping woman. According to legend, the

Taíno The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the pri ...

cacique Caguax had a niece called ''Taina'' (or ''Tayana'') who sacrificed herself and was turned into the mountain during the Spanish conquest of '' Borinquen'' (or ''Boriken'', the native name for Puerto Rico). The best way to observe this optical illusion is from Altos de San Luis, Altos de La Mesa and on expressway

PR-52 Puerto Rico Highway 52 (PR-52), a major toll road in Puerto Rico, is also known as ''Autopista Luis A. Ferré''. It was formerly called ''Expreso Las Américas''. It runs from PR-1 in southwest Río Piedras and heads south until it intersects wit ...

and highway

PR-1 Puerto Rico Highway 1 (PR-1) is a highway in Puerto Rico that connects the city of Ponce to San Juan. Leaving Ponce, the road heads east and follows a somewhat parallel route along the southern coast of the island heading towards Salinas. At ...

when driving from north to south through the valley.

Settlements and ''barrios''

Caguas

* Bairoa * Caguas (Pueblo) * Tomás de Castro * Turabo

Gurabo

Celada Celada is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Andrian Celada, Filipino basketball player * Carlo Celada, Italian gymnast See also * La Celada, a village in Córdoba, Spain *Celadas, a municipality in Teruel, Aragon, Spain *Celada, ...

* Gurabo (Pueblo) * Hato Nuevo * Navarro * Rincón

Juncos

* Gurabo Abajo

References

{{Reflist Geography of Puerto Rico Caguas, Puerto Rico Gurabo, Puerto Rico Juncos, Puerto Rico