The city and municipality of Caguas are located approximately 30 minutes from the coastline both on the east (
Humacao) and the north (
San Juan). It is east of
Aguas Buenas and
Cidra, north of
Cayey, south of
San Juan, and west of
Gurabo and
Trujillo Alto. It also shares borders with
Guayama and
Patillas via a five-point border at the summit of
Cerro La Santa, with
Cayey and
San Lorenzo. This is the tallest point of the
Sierra de Cayey, not to be confused with Montaña Santa (officially called Cerro de Nuestra Madre) which is another mountain in the same massif located on the boundary between the municipalities of Patillas and San Lorenzo. At this point there are two tall antennas which provide signal to Puerto Rico's principal TV stations such as
WKAQ-TV and
WAPA-TV. No road passes exactly at this point, and it can be approached nearby through
Puerto Rico Highway 184.
Valle de Caguas . The city is located in one of the largest valleys in Puerto Rico, the
Valle de Caguas or
Caguas Valley (also known as
Valle del Turabo or the
Turabo Valley). Being located in a valley, Caguas has the distinction of being relatively flat except near the borders with all the mentioned municipalities except Gurabo. The valley is bordered by the
Altos de La Mesa and
San Luis ranges in the north, the
Sierra de Luquillo on the northeast, the
San Lorenzo batholith to the east, the
Sierra de Cayey on the south and the main range of the
Cordillera Central to the west. This valley is fed mainly by the
Grande de Loíza River, one of Puerto Rico's major rivers that feed into the
Atlantic Ocean, and numerous tributaries such as the
Cagüitas, along which the contemporary settlement of
Caguas was built. The city's nickname
Valle del Turabo 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 that runs from west to east and ends in
Humacao in the southeastern coast of the island. As with other parts of Puerto Rico, the region of Caguas is susceptible to earthquakes. The municipality is located along the
Great Northern Puerto Rico fault zone (GNPRfz) and in recent times the region experienced moderate size earthquakes in 1990 and
2010.
Water features • The
Río Grande de Loíza divides the municipality from
Gurabo. • Other rivers:
Río Turabo,
Río Cagüitas,
Río Cañaboncito,
Río Bairoa and
Río Cañas.
Climate The climate is classified as a
tropical monsoon climate, meaning the daily mean temperature from month to month is never less than , and there is a distinct wet and dry season. Rainfall is common in relative abundance throughout most of the year, although there is less rain than in the eastern coastal valleys. The land, however, is fertile and deep.
Barrios Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Caguas is subdivided into
barrios: •
Caguas barrio-pueblo •
Bairoa •
Beatriz •
Borinquen •
Cañabón •
Cañaboncito •
Río Cañas •
San Antonio •
San Salvador •
Tomás de Castro •
Turabo Sectors Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to
minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called (
sectors in English). The types of
sectores may vary, from normally
sector to
urbanización to
reparto to
barriada to
residencial, among others.
Special Communities (Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of
social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Caguas: Bairoa La 25, Morales neighborhood, Parcelas Viejas in Borinquén, Sector La Barra, and Comunidad La Quebrada in Río Cañas, Hoyo Frío in Las Carolinas, Lajitas, Las Carolinas, Los Muchos, Los Panes in Beatriz, and Savarona. ==Tourism==