Peña de Bernal Monolith and Cave

Peña de Bernal and Cueva de la Calavera

Mythic monolith: they say it gives vitality to the people living nearby

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Wherever you look, the monolith is there, dominating the landscape. The rock we see began as lava trapped inside a volcano. Some people seek to experience it by climbing up and rappelling down (there are a number of routes with varying degrees of difficulty), others just hike up the trails so they can recharge their energy during the spring equinox. A few years ago, Ecoturismo Los Cuervos (ecoturismoloscuervos@hotmail.com) came up with a comfortable way to get tourists up the rock using a hitch pulled by a powerful ATV. That way, you don’t break a sweat, and—thanks to their tour guides—you learn all the rock’s secrets: the caves, vestiges of Chichimec culture, a pre-Hispanic painting, animal and plant life (including Criollo maguey, a feature in regional cooking), and more.

The mysterious Cueva de la Calavera can be found in the rock’s surrounding area. Here, over time, a stalactite took on the shape of a skull. It’s the clearest and most well-known formation, but the cave itself is really the thing to see. Everyone has fun looking for shapes in the rocks.

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Nature

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Location

Peña de Bernal, Querétaro, México

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