Mission of San Miguel and Mission of San Rafael

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Mission of San Miguel

   Deep in the Bolivian lowlands, the Chiquitania is a land of dry tropical forest, red earth and granite outcrops, a long way from the Andes. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Jesuit missionaries gathered the Chiquitano people into settlements here that blended European Baroque with local craft, and six of those mission towns survive. San Rafael and San Miguel, a short distance apart in the east, are among them, and UNESCO listed the group in 1990.

   Read the complete Mission of San Miguel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mission of San Miguel is where the day begins. Next is Mission of Santa Ana.

2. 2. Mission of Santa Ana

   Santa Ana is a tiny village in the lowlands of eastern Bolivia, in the Chiquitania region, and its church is considered by many to be the most authentic of the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos. The missions were founded by Jesuit priests in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries among the indigenous peoples of the region, the Chiquitanos, and became thriving communities centred on large churches built of wood and adobe, with vast roofs supported by carved wooden columns. Six of them were listed by UNESCO in 1990.

   Read the complete Mission of Santa Ana write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mission of Santa Ana comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mission of San Rafael.

3. 3. Mission of San Rafael

   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.

   Read the complete Mission of San Rafael write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Mission of San Rafael. Next is back through Mission of Santa Ana.

4. 4. back through Mission of Santa Ana

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mission of Santa Ana write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Mission of Santa Ana, late in the day. Next is Mission of San Miguel.

5. 5. Mission of San Miguel

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mission of San Miguel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Mission of San Miguel. That is the ride.