Las Cañas Cacao Farm

Hacienda Cañas is the largest cacao nursery in Ecuador. It was a pioneer in rural tourism, when it started the "Cocoa Route" in the Naranjal district, Guayas province, in 2001. Since then it has not stopped receiving groups of visitors.

Tourists can observe live the whole process of obtaining the desired Ecuadorian cocoa, the best in the world. Several trails run through the plantation with hundreds of thousands of cloned plants. When the ears turn orange, it's time for the harvest. Once the fruit is harvested, the seed is extracted, fermented, dried and stored for export to chocolate production plants in Colombia, the United States and Europe. The knowledge of this process takes approximately 2 hours.

Another agricultural specialty of Hacienda Cañas is its banana and fruit tree plantations, some of which are in danger of extinction. In the dining cabin, visitors taste cocoa juice while admiring an exhibition of tropical fruits: borojó, caimito, medlar, a species of grape called rambutan, wild cocoa, noni and bread fruit.

The best of the Montubio culture is another facet of the Hacienda. Typical food, horseback riding among teak trees, cockfights, traditional dancing, village bands, amorphous or swimming in a river dam, are the possibilities. For those who are not used to such an intense schedule, a comfortable hammock awaits.

This is definitely the right place to get to know the agricultural culture and traditions of the countryside on the Ecuadorian coast.