page_title: Castillo San Cristóbal (San Juan)
section_title: La Garita del Diablo
hierarchical_section_title: Castillo San Cristóbal (San Juan) / La Garita del Diablo
caption_attribution_description: English: Devil's watchtower—bartizan at fort San Cristóbal, in Old San Juan (Puerto Rico), seen from the upper-northern side of the fort. Italiano: Garitta del Diavolo nel forte San Cristóbal, nella Vecchia San Juan (Porto Rico), vista dalla zona superiore lato nord del forte. Español: Garita del Diablo en el fuerte San Cristobal, en el Viejo San Juan (Puerto Rico), vista desde la parte norte del fuerte.
context_page_description: Castillo San Cristóbal, is a fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was built by the Spanish to protect against land based attacks on the city of San Juan. It is part of San Juan National Historic Site.
  Castillo San Cristóbal is the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World. When it was finished in 1783, it covered about 27 acres of land and partly encircled the city of San Juan. Entry to the city was sealed by San Cristóbal's double gates. After close to a hundred years of relative peace in the area, part of the fortification was demolished in 1897 to help ease the flow of traffic in and out of the walled city.
  This fortress was built on a hill originally known as the Cerro de la Horca or the Cerro del Quemadero, changed to Cerro de San Cristóbal in celebration of the Spanish victories ejecting English and Dutch interlopers from the island of this name in the Lesser Antilles. At the time, it hen formed part of the insular territorial glacis of Puerto Rico.
  Castillo de San Cristóbal also contains five cisterns that were used for the storage of water during the ages of the Spanish Colony. They are extremely large and were used as bomb shelters during World War II.
context_section_description: Most of San Juan's fortified walls have guerites (sentry boxes, "garitas" to the locals) at various points. One of the guerites at Castillo San Cristóbal is called "The Devil's Guerite" ("La Garita del Diablo"). This guerites offer a vantage point to watchmen guarding the sea shore, while protecting them. This particular guerite is one of the oldest parts of the fort being built in 1634.
  There are several legends surrounding the guerite. Some of them say that soldiers disappeared randomly from the guerite. However, it is mostly believed – and told so in various local stories – that the only soldier that apparently disappeared was a soldier called Sánchez, who fled his post to escape with his girlfriend, called Dina. However, the legend still surrounds the guerite. Although, it is currently inaccessible to the general public, it can be seen from the upper part of the fort.
caption: Devil's Guerite
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