The Jesuits who came to the lowlands of eastern Bolivia in the late seventeenth century did something remarkable with the forest, the heat and the people they found, the Chiquitano. Between 1691 and 1760 they founded a string of mission towns, and six of them survive, with churches built of wood and adobe, painted inside and out with floral patterns and trompe-l'oeil columns. San Rafael de Velasco, with its church finished in the 1740s, is one of the prettiest, a white and ochre building with a deep porch and an open bell tower, set in a village square with red earth and big shade trees. The missions were listed by UNESCO in 1990.
The man behind the architecture was a Swiss Jesuit, Martin Schmid, who was also a composer, and the missions were famous for their music. The Chiquitano learned to build violins, harps and organs, and to play baroque music of a surprisingly high standard, and manuscripts of that music were found in the archives. Every two years, an international festival of baroque music fills the churches with concerts, drawing musicians from many countries.
The Chiquitania is a place of dry forest, granite domes and open plains, east of Santa Cruz. The roads between the missions are a mix of paved highways and red dirt tracks, and while the main route from Santa Cruz to San Ignacio is paved and smooth, the side roads are not, and they turn to mud in the wet season, from November to March. May to October is the better time, though dust can be heavy, and nights can be cool.
The villages have simple shops and a few places to eat, often serving grilled beef, rice with cheese and sweet cassava cakes. Take cash, as cards are rarely accepted, and leave plenty of time for dirt roads. The reward is the sight of a painted wooden church glowing in the evening light.