Depart from a Guayaquil hotel or airport for the 1.5 hour drive to bucolic Bucay. Located in Ecuador's tropical coastal region, it offers spectacular views of the Andes Mountains. Hacienda La Danesa is a traditional dairy farm on 500 hectares. They take great pride in crafting incredible meals using fresh, locally sourced, seasonal and organic ingredients, including fresh, hand-crafted artisanal cheese for guests to sample every morning. The hacienda also has cocoa and teak plantations and breeds beautiful pinto quarter horses.

Your host will greet you and give you a warm welcome to the farm and tell you about Hacienda La Danesa's rich history. You will have time at leisure to explore the gardens and property, enjoy refreshing cold-infused drinks and a traditional snack.

Next, choose one Hacienda Activity:

Cacao & Chocolate Experience: Upon check in, we will visit the plantations to learn the history and process of the cacao in Ecuador surrounded by cacao trees. You will continue to visit the fermentation and drying process up until the final stage where the cacao beans are stored and ready to be sold. We will then continue to the workshop where our local chocolatier will show you how artisan chocolate is produced. We will cover the tempering and crystallization process up until the packaging. You will have the opportunity to make your own chocolate bar to take home!

Dairy Milking Experience: Hacienda La Danesa produces around 1,200 liters of milk every day and had won for 20 years in a row the best dairy cattle in coastal Ecuador. One of our beloved cows will visit us in the gardens and share some of her milk with us. Try a Cafe au Lait with the freshest possible milk!

Lazy River Tubing or Biking: At this time you may explore the property by bike, float down the lazy rivers surrounded by trees and birds.

Later, enjoy a three course lunch and dinner.

Option 1: Hike in the La Esperanza Cloud Forest. The La Esperanza Cloud Forest Reserve will astound visitors with its beauty, bounty and great amount biodiversity. Search for jaguar, ocelot, Baird's tapir, three-wattled bellbird, bare-necked umbrellabird, and the famously elusive Cock of the Rock. Guests will depart Hacienda La Danesa at 9:00 am (or earlier if bird watching) and in this one hour hike you will visit three different waterfalls of different heights where you may jump in for an uplifting experience and feel the power of water. For guests interested in canyoning down the waterfall, your instructor will provide with all security equipment. After visiting the three waterfalls, guests will visit a local farmer to learn about the artisan sugar cane juice and liquor production where you will have a hands on experience and make your own Sugar Cane and Lime juice. You will return to Hacienda La Danesa just on time for lunch.

Option 2: Close encounter with water buffalo. Guests will visit Hacienda La Victoria, a 15-minute drive from Hacienda La Danesa. Hacienda La Victoria is known for their excellence in Brahman and Water Buffalo farming. Upon arriving you will be greeted by a family member for a traditional Ecuadorian coffee and snack with fresh buffalo mozzarella. Here you will receive a brief of the areas you will visit and learn about their operations. Before riding their horses or mules, you will try your luck fishing your lunch. Once you have fish your lunch, the cook with kindly prepared it for you upon your return to the hacienda house. The horse riding experience will be about an hour where you will get up close to the water buffalo.

Upon you arrival back to the hacienda house, you will be greeted with fresh lemonade and a beautiful lunch accompanied by the house favorite wine next to the lake. When days are clear you will see the beautiful highlands in the horizon.

After breakfast you'll have a private transfer to Guayaquil, where you can stay or head to the airport for your next Avanti Destination.