DR1 reader James Streator writes:
“We visited the DR for 10 days in January, staying 5 days in Boca Chica and 5 days in Cabarete. We drove a total of about 600 miles in the eastern half of your country and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and found the Dominican people some of the most friendly we have met in the Caribbean. We went on the Chocolate Tour that had been described in an earlier DR1 news letter [Travel News 9 December 2008]. You should do as much as is reasonable to promote this tour. All the people involved could not have been more friendly. We had to enlist the help of a motoconchista to get through Hato Mayor to find the Cacao factory but even that was a positive situation. The ideas of fair trade, of the small plantation owner and of the women’s group are powerful enticements to get tourists to visit the location. I was quite glad you originally described the tour since that is what got us thinking about driving to Hato Mayor to find the Tour de Chocolate.”
The Tour de Chocolate takes tourists “off the beaten track” into the countryside. The eco-tourism project is run by the Association of Cacao Producrs in the East, an affiliate of the National Confederation of Dominican Cacao Farmers (Conacado). The project spreads the benefits of tourism beyond the beaches.
The tour consists of three official stops, but along the 22 kilometers between El Seibo and Hato Mayor there are other stops that are almost obligatory due to the attractions.
The tour starts at Luis Mejia’s farm, where all the processes in the production of cacao are demonstrated for the visitors. Dona Mercedes shows visitors how to open a cacao pod. Visitors learn that it takes three or four years for a tree to begin to produce pods and a cacao tree can last as long as 150 years, but the most abundant crops come after 40 years. A curious note is that a tree might have as many as 6,000 flowers but it will only produce about 20 pods.
Another stop is the egret sanctuary at El Rancho near the Cibao River. While the egrets make a lot of noise and emit bad odors, farmers consider them their friends because they eat insects and other pests. The second official stop is the center for gathering the seeds at San Francisco Vicentillo in El Seibo. Here is where the cacao seeds begin to change their flavor and start smelling like chocolate. Severino Vilorio explains the fermentation process. He is a youthful 74-year old who grew up farming cacao. Of his seven children, only one has followed in his footsteps. The third stop is filled with the aroma of chocolate, and the visitors can taste all the products made from the bean: liquors, wine, preserves and candy. This is the Women’s United Hope Association’s Fermentation Center in Yabon, El Seibo.
For more information, write to Hector Romero at hromerom@hotmail.com or call 809 553-2727, or in Santo Domingo, 809 957-6203