San Vicente de Chucuri

The town sits at around seven hundred metres on the western slope below the Serrania de los Yariguies, warm and wet enough for cacao, which is the main crop along with citrus and avocado - Santander is one of the country's principal cacao regions and Colombian fine-flavour cacao has a growing reputation. Farms around the town run visits covering the whole process: pods cut from the trunk, beans fermented in wooden boxes under banana leaves, sun-dried on platforms, roasted, winnowed and ground. The Yariguies national park above holds cloud forest with a high bird count including several endemics. The area was heavily affected by the armed conflict for years and has reopened to visitors comparatively recently.

What you actually see

• Cacao from pod to bar - fermenting boxes, drying platforms, grinding.
• A principal Colombian cacao region - with a fine-flavour reputation.
• Yariguies cloud forest above - a high bird count with endemics.
• A town reopened to visitors recently - after years of conflict.

When to go

December to March. A full day.

Honest expectations

Farm visits are informal and best arranged locally or through the town. Roads in are winding and slow. Heat and humidity are heavy. Tourist infrastructure is limited - this is a working farming town.

Nearby

Zapatoca is east; Barrancabermeja is west on the Magdalena.