Long known as a centre for salt and sugar production and for shrimp farming, Aguadulce occupies the flatlands of Cocle Province. Birders will thrill to migratory whimbrels and other waders in coastal wetlands, while the nearby Nata and El Cano hark back to the colonial and pre-Columbian past.

An important industrial town in the midst of an otherwise semiarid plain, Aguadulce is surrounded by lime-green sugarcane fields dusted by delicate white blossoms in spring. East of town, salt pans abandoned a decade ago recall the days when Aguadulce was a major salt producer. Adjoining shrimp ponds deliver juicy plump jumbo shrimp to restaurants throughout the country.

The Parque y Museo Arqueologico El Cano, 9 kilometres northeast of Nata, is worth a quick browse. Site of the nation’s most abundant concentration of pre-Columbian discoveries, this ancient ceremonial centre and burial ground found in 1924 covers 8 hectares and dates back 5000 years.