Cate's Pirhana

Cate's been jammin' on her project for Faunagua

Mass begins at San Miguel, Jesuit Mission in eastern Bolivia

In the late 1600's Jesuit missionaries came to what what then Spanish and Portugese territories, now, Paraguay and Bolivia. There were many native peoples here and they were being rounded up by the europeans and enslaved to work in the mines north of thier home. (have you seen the movie, The Mission, with Robert D'Nero? that explains all this)
Anyway, the Jesuits protected the native people from the slave traders and so were fairly popular and had the opportunity to try out some of their utopian ideas and influence them with Boroque music, carving and painting. The result was a large area with these missions sprinked in the jungles. Then the Portugese and Spanish decided the church, and the Jesuits especially were getting too powerful in the old and new worlds and kicked the Jesuits out of south america. The missions were abandoned... but wait! not really! years later folks realized that some of the native people had maintained the churches, still made violins, still knew some songs ect. Sooo...in the 1970's some churches were restored and the area is a world heritage site. We toured 6 of the pueblos that have some of these churches. Very cool. (actually it was really hot) Very incredible. Very long way in a bus, cant' imagine how they got thier supplies in the old days!!!

Altar in one of the churches

This is typical of the incredible altars in these Jesuit Mission churches. Carved from wood and then lots of gold leaf and natural pigments or mica. Usually there are carved statues of the saints in nooks, but this in this church they were burned or stolen over the years, so this one has paintings instead.

Misa (mass) in San Miguel

Just happened to hit San Miguel on the patron saint's day. Church was packed and not a person was not sweating. Man, was it hot. No big fans running either! Notice the yellow and white windows in the back. These small round panes of glass were made in a fire locally 300 years ago. The pillars are all out of one tree and beautifully carved. The benches are a modern addition, otherwise it was on the tile floor with you!

Frances in the pulpit, say what...?

Most of the churches still have a pulpit sticking out about half way down the chuch. This was for the sermon, before microphones. The round thing above Frannies head helped amplify the sound. This pulpit has gold leaf and natural mica glued onto the carved wood. Each pulpit had its own character and style. Some had carvings of objects, like mermaids, from the underworld, or hell, underneath the pulpit to remind you to listen, or you'd end up there!

Awaiting sunday morning mass in San Miguel.

Most of the churches are painted inside and out with natural pigments. Red from the red earth, green from leaves, ect. The natural pigments were, and still are mixed with palm oil for the base. It is thought this is the secret why the paintings still exist. This artwork above, has been refurbished since the 1700's, but some we saw was original. The original work is done with tiny dots, not long strokes of a brush. the syle is a mix of boroque/european influence and indigenous geometric shapes.

Organ and player in choir loft of church.

Who knows how old this organ is. This young guy played us a hymm while we looked around the church. He was very shy about the camera.

September is burning month

There was tons of smoke for the 5 days we traveled east of Santa Cruz. This area is one of the prime agricultural areas and it is common practice to burn off the grazing land for cattle and the old stubble from crops. The photo above is a typical home. Walls constucted of a lattice of small poles filled with mud mixed with straw. Roof is thatched of palm leaves. Dirt floors and swept yards are the center of subsitence plots. Pigs, dogs, kids, cattle and burros for transport all share the yard.

Walking in San Xavier, one of the old Jesuit Mission towns.

Maggies hotel friend, Lilly

Girls just want to have fun, fun....

The girls at school with friends.

Futbol fans

Maggie and Maria are sitting at the top of the bleachers watching the game. To the left is Maria's grandfather. He goes to every game, and always sits in the same spot. When a player is injured, or thinks they are injured, it is quite a drama. There is a lot of rolling around on the field and comotion. Many times the stretcher is brought out and there is a big ta-doo as the athelete is carried off the field. 19 times out of 20, there is a miracle and the player recovers just as play resumes. What do you expect with a 33 meter high statue of Christ watching the game?

Futbol at the stadium

This stadium is only a few blocks from our house so we go to a game about once a week. Notice the mountains in the background. Also, the blow-up tunnel is to get the team members and referees on and off the field safely. No glass bottles are allowed in the stadium but plastic ones are often in the air. Also notice the blow-up Jersey which sports a giant jersey of the team playing. Many folks are wearing red to support the most popular local team; Wilsterman. Zona Rojo (the red zone) is the spot where the real hard core fans sit and send up firecrackers, jump up and down continuously, play in the band, and shout loudly. You most definately would not want to go sit there wearing a competitors jersey.