Puerto Rico has a long history of Indian cultures that lived here many hundreds to thousands of years ago. The most recent Indian culture, the Tainos, were really into making drawings or carvings (called petroglyphs) on rocks near rivers or in caves.

Coming across this evidence of indigenous people is always something that I find very cool. I really like seeing the petrogylphs, wondering what messages the people were trying to leave, and for whom or what those messages where intended.

The town of Jayuya has a nice example of a written rock (piedra escrita, in Spanish) that contains many different Taino petroglyphs. The town has even created a recreation area (La Area Recreativa La Piedra Escrita, in Spanish) with a beautiful wooden walkway down to the river and rock so that everyone can appreciate this artifact.

The petrogylphs are carved into a large rock in the middle of Río Saliente in Jayuya. Most of the drawings are on the top and on the river-side of the rock. There are all kinds of different shapes — many spirals, some face