Polo Magnético

On a stretch of road in the hills near Polo, a car left in neutral appears to roll upwards, and water poured on the surface appears to run the wrong way. The effect is an optical illusion produced by the surrounding slopes obscuring the true horizon, which is what similar sites elsewhere in the world turn out to be, but it works convincingly and a monument marks the spot. Drivers stop, put the car in neutral and let it move.

Background

The site is on a mountain near Polo, a municipality of Barahona Province that was settled in the 1890s and covers 200.61 km². The town sits at approximately 740 metres in a small valley of the Sierra de Bahoruco, ringed by peaks of up to 1,680 metres, and had 7144 residents in 2012. The area is known for its coffee, grown between 600 and 1,100 metres as part of the Barahona coffee region and sold internationally as Café de Barahona under a protected designation of origin. Along with Paraíso, Enriquillo and Barahona, Polo is one of four coffee-growing municipalities in the province, and the region has approximately 12,000 hectares under cultivation and 2,600 growers.

Source: Wikipedia, "Polo, Dominican Republic"

What's there

• The rolling car - a vehicle in neutral appearing to move uphill.
• The illusion - slopes around the road obscuring the real horizon line.
• The marker - the monument set beside the road at the spot.
• The coffee hills - the highland country around Polo the road runs through.

When to go

Year round; the effect works at any time. Weekends bring more visitors. The road is quiet on weekdays.

Practical notes

It is an optical illusion, not a magnetic anomaly, whatever the name says. There is nothing else at the site and fifteen minutes covers it. Traffic uses the road while people are stopped on it.

Nearby

Polo is nearby, and Laguna de Cabral is north.

Key facts