The eastern Bolivian landscape changes from ca. 30km before San Javier: the flat farmlands that surround Santa Cruz give way to light-green tropical plants and hills. This is Chiquitania, and they want you to know: signs along the road describe the history of the region and its Jesuit missions.

For my visit to the missions, I stayed in the Gran Hotel Concepcion for 2 nights and visited Concepcion and San Javier from there. Concepcion is the more atmospheric of the two towns. It has a fabulous square plaza, just like the Jesuits designed it. I started my visit at the Mission Museum – a great start as it has stories and models of all missions. And lots of woodwork that came from several churches. I especially liked the angels!

Somewhere I had read that the churches are only open for mass, but fortunately, that’s untrue. In Concepcion you can enter the church from the adjacent church museum. And the interior even is more lovely than the colourful outside would suggest. It has both paintings and wooden sculptures in a naïve kind of style. Not something you would see in your average Spanish (colonial) catholic church. And then there is that bell tower, all made out of wood.

On the same day, I also visited the church of San Javier – about an hour away by bus. Although it has a similar design as the one in Concepcion, there are a lot of differences too. I was lucky to get inside here also: a youth orchestra was practicing and the door was open. The heavy, wrought wooden pillars are painted off-white here as are the ceilings, giving the church a more light atmosphere. I was surprised to bump into the familiar WHS certificate near the baptismal font…

I had considered doing the full circuit of the six missions, starting by train from Santa Cruz to San José and then going on to the other villages by bus or taxi. I eventually decided against it because I was afraid to get stuck somewhere for a day, after having “done” the church in half an hour. But it would be a great trip with your own transport (on a motor?)