United by Rugby and Rum: Santa Teresa Plantation

Rashel Cedeño De Abreu
Apr 2, 2020
3 min read

After sailing across the ocean and far away from the bustle of the cities, at the Aragua Valley, Gustav Vollmer, a German immigrant, met Panchita Rivas. Together, in 1830 as a happily married couple, they started to run the Santa Teresa Plantation.

Up until this day, the Vollmer family still runs the plantation.

For another German immigrant success story,

visit my previous entry: The Tovar Colony.

La Hacienda Santa Teresa

The Santa Teresa Plantation is recognized and internationally awarded as one of the world's best distilleries and has worked its way up to produce the best rum brand, including 12 different types of high quality aged rums.

It was founded in 1796 by the county as a sugar cane plantation but bought by Gustav Vollmer in 1830, to make it a rum distillery.

This was not intended to be a tourist destination, however, the Vollmer family decided to start opening its doors to show every interested person how the distillery works and as odd as it is going to sound, this is a perfect place to do a family trip! But let me explain why:

The plantation has several tours to chose from and many spots for the kids of the house. The first time I went, I did a Rum Tour, where they take you through the sugar cane fields to tell you the history of the plantation, the way it works, and the techniques they use, while also, of course, giving you samples of their different types of rum. There are also cocktail classes where they teach you what are the best combinations.

Kids are allowed on the tours, but there are special activities for them while the adults are tasting samples. They have horse riding activities, a soccer field, zip line, and they teach them how to play rugby! The whole trip is amazing, including the transportation: a small vintage train and a bus.

Alcatraz Project

"We make rum. We play rugby."

In 2003, three gang members robbed a worker from the plantation. The police found them and told the company officials they had them, pushing them to press charges, but the Vollmer family decided to give them two options: stay at the police custody or go to the plantation and work for them at crops.

The robbers decided to go work at the plantation to serve three months as their penalty. Later, they invited the whole gang of their "barrio" (an underclass neighborhood) to go with them, and from this situation, Alberto Vollmer, great-great-grandson of the first Vollmer, started the Alcatraz Project.

The plantation started to hire and recruit gang members and criminals to give them psychological services and train them in cropping, construction, logistics, technical support, and even as bartenders. So by the time they served their sentence, they can apply for a formal job or leave with new skills learned.

But the most interesting part about this, is that they started to receive rugby lessons. The current Vollmer in charge loves to play rugby as a hobby, so he decided to implement that part of his life in the plantation.

The gang created a team. Rival gangs were also hired and trained, so they compete with each other at the end of the month.

Today, 17 years later, the project is still helping save people's lives. At the country with the highest crime rates, a rum distillery helped the state to lower the death rates with this miraculous reinsertion programs.

This people are now serving the public and giving tours, and they are doing so brilliantly! I have been to the plantation twice, and I had amazing tour guides. I laughed the whole day while they were teaching us how to make rum and play rugby.

I found this a very special place to spend the day. It is also a good idea for planning birthdays, or an event with friends, and even go to their rugby games or for their annual marathon!

I truly had an amazing experience.