So it was almost a month ago...all about my trip!

Hi everyone. Hope all is well. Everything is great here, just realized today that I only have 6 more weeks of classes left...craziness how time flies. I cannot imagine writing on this blog in two years about my experiences in Chile, but they way that things are going, that day will be here sooner than later.

Before I share about my trip, I want to let you know of some very disheartening news. The mother of my mom´s boyfriend (the boyfriend that I consider an un-official stepdad), passed away last night. Por suerte (luckily), my mom and Tom were able to arrive back from their vacation in time to be with her in her last few moments. She was an absolute delight and a wonderful person, true at heart. I know that this is going to be a tough loss for both my mom, my stepdad, and his family. Please keep them in your hearts and prayers at this time.

Alright...

I am super excited to FINALLY share with you about my 10 day trip that I took almost three weeks ago to Chiquitos, Santa Cruz, and Sammaipata, Bolivia. Below is the best account of my trip along with a few little stories and pictures along the way. There are plenty more pictures of my trip included in MY PHOTOS, so these are just a few highlights. Alright, happy reading...but beware - it´s a long one! (And PS: don´t feel bad if you cannot read it all today or you don´t read it at all, totally understandable, haha).

15 students, one director, and one tour guide flew for 45 min. to Santa Cruz, Bolivia on September, 30 at 7:50am. Once we arrived in Santa Cruz, we were greeted by our driver, Carlos, and our bus that took us to Chiquitos, Bolivia, about 4 hours away. Oh, and I cannot forget the fact that we were greeted by Subway Sandwiches too...who knew I would ever eat Subway in Bolivia?? Was definitely not the same, but still pretty good. Here is a picture of the bus that we took - let´s just say that when I saw this, I had no idea what to expect for trip ahead. Oh, here is also a picture of the peanut butter cookies that I had made for me and my buddies during the trip! They were sooo good, thanks Gma for the recipie!

Throughout our four hour journey we passed through some really small towns, including the famous Rio Grande river, which you can tell would be incredibly large if it were fully but it barely had water in it, smaller than the Missouri River. Also on this four hour journey, we passed through two refugee camps set up by the Bolivian government. I have now realized that this was my first of many glances at poverty in a third-world country. It allowed me to realize how lucky my family, friends, and I truly are. It was also the first time that I realized how odd it is to be a "tourist" in this country...all I wanted was for these people not to feel like they were in a zoo, something "new" for us to see because it does not exist on such a scale in our country.

Also along they way, we would stop to pay a toll of some sort to cross a bridge or go through a town (not like the US at all, ropes and people stopped traffic until they paid the toll or tax). When our bus stopped, young mothers and children (ages 5-12) would come up to the bus selling yelling out the items that they were selling, which was all kinds of things from oranges, popcorn, pork on a stick, and cold drinks. It was crazy hot all of the days, so needless to say some items were sold more than others. Well, I did not want to buy any of it, but I felt horrible that these young women and children were slaving away in about 95 degrees heat all to sell a bottle of coke for about 24 cents, popcorn for 12 cents, or the large pork stick for a mere dollar. So, I opened up the window and offered the children the leftover peanut butter cookies that I had. Boy, was this a shock to them, haha - I don´t think anyone had ever offered them anything from the buses, let along cookies. The joy and bright big eyes of the little kids was great as they took the cookies and gave it to their friends to have...some of them even went over to their moms to show them what they got. As we drove away, I saw them eating and smiling - it was definitely worth bringing those cookies along for the trip.

We arrived at San Javier, our first mission town, for lunch. The Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos have been located in the center of the Bolivian forest for more than 3 centuries. They are the only Jesuit missions in South America that have not been destroyed. Declared a Cultural Patrimony site by UNESCO and considered the main settlements of the Jesuits in the new world, they were built from 1691 to 1760. They Jesuits remained in the Chiquitania land for less than a centruy, creating societies of productivity and archectecture while converting nomad tribes into communites called "reductions" with the purpose of initiating the natives in artistic, civil, and religious activities. On October 13, 1767, the spanish king ordered the expulsion of the Jeusit missionaries from the new world in the lands of the Spanish and Portugese.

San Javier was the first of the mission towns founded in the territory of the Chiquitos by the Compañia de jesus in December 31, 1691 by priest Jose de Arché. Today the town has 15,000 inhabitants skilled in eaborate craft works. The church has a boroque style, bult between 1749 and 1752 by Priest Martin Schmid and restored between 1987 and 1993. Here is a picture of me infront of the church - how beautiful! We took a tour of the church as well as the museum where we observed instruments that are manufactured in the poor pueblo, such as harps, violins, and violas (I loved that part, hehe). The highlight of our tripo, however, was a short concert of Baroque music presented by the town´s renowned youth choir and orchestra. Absolutely incredible to see and hear...who knew that such beautiful music and church can come from such an impoverished area.

After leaving San Javier, we another one and half hours to the town of Concepción. On the way, Maria, our tour guide, decided that we should stop at a small town on the way to say hello - she knew that the small town of about 300 people (200 of them children) having a festival. So, we stopped, and planned to stay there for about 30 minutes. Well, the stop turned into 3 hours but THIS EXPERIENCE WAS BY FAR MY FAVORITE PART OF THE CHIQUITOS MISSION TRIP. As soon as we arrived, the local women were doing a festive dance and a group of men were native music with native instruments. I have included the picture here. The women came over and grabbed all of our hands and we danced with them in a circle, laughing the entire way. After, the pueblo included us in their festive games such as musical chairs (picture seen here) and sack races. I was included in a game too, ALL BY MYSELF! I was blindfolded along with another young woman from the pueblo. We were handed a spoon and a cup full of a honey like substance...our task was to take a spoon full of the stuff and try to put it in the opposite person´s mouth! Haha, it was quite hilarious for all as we failed miserably and got the stuff all over our shirts. The honey stuff was actually quite good, too. :-) This was the first time that I actually felt that I was in an episode of National Geographic. Here I am, tall, large, light skinned girl surrounded by 300 shorter and darker skin people who were all soooo welcoming and so happy to see and speak to me and my group, wanting to touch all of us to say hello. The skin difference of course does not concern me, but really was the first opportunity to recognize the beauty of differences of people all over the world. The children were just absolutely adorable and after we were leaving, I shed a few tears as children were chasing our bus, wishing us goodbye. Yeah, it may be a little cliché and it definitely seemed as if it were right out of a movie, but being there was everything I expected out of my time in South America and more. I bought a necklace made of what looks like pinto beans for a mere 60 cents from a young mother who was selling them to help feed her children. I hope to keep this necklace always as a reminder of this experience and what I learned while I was there.

For the next 4 days we visited 5more mission towns, that of Concepción, San Ignacio, San Miguel, San Rafael, and Santa Ana. Below is a bit of information about each mission town and my personal highlight of each trip (the print is smaller because it is long). Trust me, the pictures do not do these towns or the capillas justice - check out more on my online photo album.


Concepción: Founded on December 8, 1709 by Jesuit Preist Lucas Caballero, who settled here with the Menesia and the Bococa Natives of the Chiquitan origin. This population was almost extinguished because of the resistance of some aborignial groups but was finally consolidated in 1722. Today, Concepción has 20,700 inhabitants. The church is of baroque style that was restored in 1975 by the famous architect Hans Roth and opened again on August 125, 1983. This basilica opens its doors to offer the beauty of its construction in naves of three bodies, large columns carved entirely of wood, altars and paintings done by the locals. The church was bilty by Martin Schmid between 1753 and 1756 and was declared a national monument in 1950, along with its wooden bell tower.

San Ignacio: Was founded at the point of origin by the Paraguay River by Jesuit priests Miguel Arieljer and Diego Contreras. the mission was established with the help of the Chiquitanos, Guarayos, Zambusos, and other natives on July 31, 1748. San Ignacio now has 3800 inhabitants and the church has a Chiquitano style, presented in the altars, pulpit, and confessionals.
THE RIDE TO SAN IGNACIO is the most memorable of the whole experience. It was four hours from Concepcion to San Ignacio, which is a beltway to three other small towns, in which three of the hours were on a dirt road. The bus was not suited for this ride, quite uncomfortable and very hard to sleep, let alone hear enough to talk to your neighbor on the bus. Despite this, we were able to see small villages and pass through the forested region (little more rugged than the jungle) of the Mercado Kempf National Park. The National Park is so large that there are still unexplored parts, unknown animal inhabitants, and unidentified plant life living in the Park until this day.
The church was beautiful, I was even able to climb up to the pulpit and look out over the church. When I climbed down, an older lady, about 70ish years old, asked me for money, typical in these very small impoverished towns. I spoke to her for about five minutes in which we exchanged bits of our lives, during which she told me that she had a young son that she could not feed and just needs a little bit for today. At this point in Bolivia, I have given up on trying to guess whether or not these type of stories are the truth. I gave her 5 Bolivianos (about 60 cents to those in the US, but a big deal in these small towns) in which she was absolutely thrilled, she had tears in her eyes. She hugged me and told me God Bless, I kissed her on the cheek and said the same, and we both said goodbye. I love those type of encounters.

San Rafael: Was the second town founded by the Compañia de Jesus during colonial times by Jesuit priests Juan Bautista Zca and Francisco Hervas on October 24, 1696 with approx. 1000 indians and several Chiquitano tribes, today, it has 3500 inhabitants. The church was built between 1747 and 1749 by Prist Martin Schmid and a team of artisans recently restored the mission.
During our tour of San Rafael, I had to go to the restroom. The restroom was located in another building just outside the church, where a group of Austrian nuns live. So I go to the restroom and return to the church to find that the doors to get back into the church were locked. Although I knocked on the doors, no one heard me because of music that was playing inside the church, the source of the music I would find out later. Anyway, after knocking, I saw a little old nun, habit and all, walking across the courtyard toward the building. I ran up to the woman (I think she was kinda scared because I was about 3 feet taller and had about 150 pounds on her) and asked her in spanish how to get back into the church. She shook her head - she didn´t understand me. Another little old nun saw my predicament, came over, and spoke to me in broken spanish, telling me that the nun does not speak spanish...in which I replied in broken spanish that I do not either and just need to get into the church to rejoin my group. The little old nun took my hand (how cute!) and walked me over to the door, in which she gentlely turned the knob in the other direction...it was not locked afterall. Haha, for me. Anyway, when I joined the rest of group, thankful that no one saw me make a fool of myself, I saw that a young boy, about the age of 14, was playing the violin for my group. He was soooo good. Apparently, he takes lessons once a month from a woman that travels three hours from Santa Cruz to the small town to tutor him. After he was through, everyone gave him a little bit of money, I think he made out with about 50 Bolivianos which is HUGE. I hope that he continues his studies and gets to acheive his dream of playing in a professional orchestra one day in the United States. He is certaintly good enough to play in a University orchestra now - and he blushed when I told him that, haha.

San Miguel: Jesuit priests Fanscisco Hervas and Felipe Suwarez founded the mission of San Miguel on September 29, 1721 with help by the Chiquitano natives and part of the population of San Rafael. Today, the town has 10,000 inhabitants. The church was built in 1760 and restored by Hans Roth between 1980 and 1983.
Adjacent to San Miguel is a wood workshop and a school for the community, in which the locals create beautiful wooden artwork for both the church and to sell in order to feed the community. Here is a picture of me with a group of children at the school. They were playing outside during their recess and I was more than happy to join in their games and chat with them for a bit.







Santa Ana: Was one of the last Chiquitano missions founded in 1755, 12 years before the Jesuit expulsion. The church was not yet finished when the priests left, but the native population raised it using the materials already manufacutred under the control and supevision of a group of remaining priests. The result is a rual touch of reduced dimensions in comparison to the other churches.
Despite the fact that this was one of my favorite capillas due to its inculturation with the local culture that included carvings in the pews and gorgeous paintings that incorporated the local culture with the stations of the cross, in this capilla there was an absolutely beautiful organ from the 18th century that had been restored along with the chapel. Martìn, a young British priest from our group, sat down and played a few tunes for us on the organ - absolutely beautiful. After, an older man about in his late 40s or early 50s, sat down with a violin in the church to play some local music for us. Nothing like the young kid that we say just a day before, but it was amazing to see a man that had no type of formal education and who taught himself the violin, play in front of everyone, just for our enrichment. I would never have that courage, even with my years of experience playing the viola.

Alright, so after our time in Chiquitania and after returning with the group to Santa Cruz, Kerry, Kelly, Patrick, Natalie, Katie, and I decided that we would leave Sunday while the rest of the group returned to Cochabamba on Wednesday. What we would do was still up in the air, but it was nice to have the freedom to do what we pleased outside of a scheduled itinerary. After looking through some guidebooks, we decided that we would spend the rest of our days in Sammaipata, Bolivia known for its waterfalls and pre-Incan ruins.

We stayed in a beautiful hostel (shown here), owned by a Dutch man and his Bolivian wife for a mere 30 Bolivianos a person, or about less than 4 dollars. The hostel included breakfast consisting of bread and fruit, a wonderful change from my Cochabamba breakfast which is always two fried eggs and two small loafs of bread.

Sammaipata was absolutely beautiful. Here are pictures of me in front of El Fuerte, the pre-Incan ruins, and Las Cuevas, the waterfalls. Again, these pictures do not do the place justice and there are some beautiful photos in my online photo album. The first picture is of Patrick, Natalie, and me under a large waterfall at Las Cuevas.



During our free time, I was also able to take a few moments and walk around the gorgeous small town. I loved it and definitely want to return in the future. There are plenty of great and beautiful pictures within my online photo album.

Alright, that is it! I am not going to include a detailed account (surprising, I know) of how I lost my plane ticket and had to take a 12 hour bus ride back by myself to Cochamba instead of taking the 45 minute plane flight my friends from Santa Cruz. Why not write about it? Well, this is long enough, but really there is nothing much to tell - for lack of better words, it was horrible and I didn´t sleep for fear of my things being stolen...the best part the trip was being greeted by my host dad and host brother when I arrived at the bus station at 6:30am in the morning. All I can account it for at this point in my foreign travels is that it is completely normal for me...each day is a crazy adventure.

So, I am done, and f you read all of this, good for you and hope you enjoyed it, you definitely deserve some type of cookie, haha. If you didn´t read it but just scanned through to look the pictures, I don´t blame you - I would have done the same.

Hope everyone is well, love and miss ya bunches, please keep Tom and his family in your prayers.

Love - M