Hacienda Jesus Maria — Attraction in Tabasco

Travelled here with our elderly parents from the UK. It's wheelchair accessible in most parts.

Our guide was a lovely local girl, I think her name is Yvette. She was very interested in us and in giving us a great tour. She has a lovely warm and giggly personality and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

The original house is beautiful. The grounds are full of many different plantations and not just cocoa. If you're lucky you'll also see monkeys sitting high up a huge mangoe tree.

We made our own chocolate with the cocoa beans.

Then we finally visited the shop where we were given a very good selection of free samples. There is absolutely no pressure to make a purchase, but we couldn't resist.

There is also a restaurant, though not sure what is served but I did see children drinking delicious looking chocolate milkshakes.

The plantation is definitely an experience I...

I'm very happy to make 3 hours ride just to go there, it was worth the distance. Since I'm a HUGE chocolate fan, a Swiss chocolatier friend of mine suggested me to visit this Hacienda and I'm glad I went there !! It's a small familial hacienda where they grow mainly criollo cacao trees for the cocoa production, CACEP. But there are also other kind of trees like coffee arabica, vanilla, cinnamon, rubber, banana etc... Cocoa tree needs bigger trees to protect them. So you visit the fields, then the fermentation, the roasting (with WONDERFUL brownies like smell). You can taste the fresh beens, then tge roasted ones. Then you can make your own little cocoa powder with cocoa beans, chili, cinnamon or sugar. It was a dream came true for me to see real growing...

Coming from Villahermosa, we stayed overnight at Comalcalco, just to visit this Hacienda. Arrived here by taxi. The tour lasted about one hour in a leisurely pace, through gardens, buildings, workshop and the factory. Tasted ripe cacao fruit, roasted seeds, and various chocolates. Had a chance to peel the skins and make chicolate paste. The bitter chocolate without sugar or spice actually tasted surprisingly good. The tour guide was patient and nice. It was a pleasant experience,...