The northern part of the municipality is located in the
Northern Karst zone of Puerto Rico while the southern part is in the
Cordillera Central. The highest point in the municipality is
Cerro Rosa at 4,143 feet (1,262 m), itself the third highest point in Puerto Rico. Ciales is home to a forest reserve called
Toro Negro Forest Reserve and a number of rivers including:
Río Cialitos,
Río Grande de Manatí,
Río Toro Negro,
Río Yunes, Pozas, and Barbas. Consequentially, the destruction of 508 native planted trees at the Finca Don Ingenio in the Toro Negro Forest Reserve in August 2021 was caused for an uproar. The trees, which included
ceiba and
maga specimens, had been planted as part of the
Hurricane María recovery by the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust's
Para La Naturaleza program. As part of the karst region, there are many caves, such as Archillas Cave, located in
Jaguas Ventana, named after the family that owns it. Since Ciales has a saying "to graduate as a Cialeño, you have to go up to the Archillas," then-mayor
Luis R. Maldonado Rodriguez attempted to acquire it. The cave has been associated with the Arcaicos, though it also holds some
Taíno petroglyphs. The cave system was first studied by
Alphonse L. Pinart in 1890. Since then several investigations have been carried out that have aided in the identification of
silex as the main material used by the Taíno for their carving tools and the discovery of
ceramic fragments, as well as the theory that the caves were used for rituals, such as
cojoba-induced ceremonies. During his research in the early 1900s,
Jesse Walter Fewkes identified the Ciales' caves as some those occupied by the Taíno as well as several of the best preserved sites with
their stone-carved implements. One of these caves,
La Cohoba Cave, was named after the namesake object found in it. Another notable find, carried out by Carlos M. Ayes Suárez, was of a zoomorphic idol from the Arcaico era in
Pesas that "consists of a
cobble that presents an engraved representation seemingly zoomorphic in shape" which is considered unique in Puerto Rico and the Antilles. Due to the mountainous nature of Ciales' topography, landslides occur, such as the rock fall that occurred in June 2021 in
Pozas that caused several buildings and fences to be destroyed, road closures and the removal of residents.
Barrios Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Ciales is subdivided into
barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a barrio referred to as . •
Ciales barrio-pueblo •
Cialitos •
Cordillera •
Frontón •
Hato Viejo •
Jaguas •
Pesas •
Pozas •
Toro Negro Sectors Barrios (which are like
minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called (
sectors in English). The types of
sectores may vary, from
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 Ciales: Sector El Hoyo in Pozas, Calle Morovis, Comunidad Los Ortega, Cruces-Cialitos, Parcelas Cordillera, Parcelas María, Parcelas Seguí, Santa Clara, and Toro Negro. ==Demographics==