We have an early breakfast and depart from Santa Cruz as early as possible. We drive east, passing the town of Cotoca and arriving to the banks of Rio Grande, where we have to sharing the long bridge with railway tracks. From here we turn north and enter the fertile flat region of Santa Cruz which is full of soya, maze and other local produce. This region is also the Mennonite country where you may sight horse driven carts along the road. We arrive to the town of San Ramon, and enter via the gentle rolling hills into the country of the Jesuits missions of Chiquitos.
The first town we visit is San Javier (San Xavier) – some 228 km from Santa Cruz. This was the first Jesuit town founded in the region of Chiquitos, back in 1691. The baroque style church in the town was built between 1749 and 1752 and possesses beautiful Spanish oak wood carvings created by the local artisans. These have been recently restored. San Javier is also the home of the regions first music school, established in 1730, and is also known for the manufacture of harps, violins and other musical instruments.
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