HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

The small town of San Jose is a few minutes from our facility and is served by the Bolivia-Brazil railway and a modern highway which comes from the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.  The town is designed in the style of the Spanish checkerboard. The church of San José de Chiquitos, constructed by the Jesuit missionaries in 1748, is one of the few mission churches constructed with bricks baked in special made ovens. The outer layer of its structure, that is supported by great wooden carved pillars each made from a single “soto” tree trunk, has stone, wood, clay, and lime. In the interior, objects that are laminated with baroque designs from every day indigenous life, hand-decorated with silver, inlayed with precious stones and sacred images, coated with gold leaf and mica adorn the altars.

The scenery is completed with a bell tower displayed toward the outside and the main square which has a quadrilateral perimeter.
The historical park named “Santa Cruz la Vieja” (Old Santa Cruz), the place where the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was originally founded in 1561 by the Spanish captain Ñuflo de Chavez, protects the town of San Jose from the sudden changes of the modern times. The park has an area of 17,080 hectares. The 32 original streets, the central square, and some ruins of the houses still remain there which was once the city that changed places years later.  The Chiquitano and Ayoreos indigenous settlements in the vicinity provide a special local flavor.  A large part of the local economy relies on the agriculture of the Mennonite communities with their vast extensions of grain and leguminous cultivations where literally “the sky darkens when the pigeon flies.”

ROCK ART

Numerous examples of rock art accompany the mission monuments. The formations of the Brazilian Shield, one of the oldest geological sites on the planet, are silent witnesses of the passage of man from ancient times.
The San Pedro ranch shelters the petroglyph (drawings or carvings on rock made by a prehistoric people) called "El Diablo" (The Devil) because of its humanlike form with attachments similar to horns. The Roca Alada (the Winged Rock) is highlighted in El Carmen Canyon. Other samples can be appreciated in San Juan de Taperas under the name of "Pope Santósch".  A mere 20 minutes from Pigeon-Palace Lodge, in Quimome, there is “Las Pisadas del Jaguar” (The Footprints of the Jaguar) with animal tracks marked on the stones.
Capinzal and Motacusito contain several sites with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures on cave and canyon walls.  
On the outskirts of Santiago, on stone walls and natural caves, stand “El Banquete” (The Banquet) and “Motacú” with their characteristic figures that have attracted the attention of archaeologists and scholars because of its complexity and size.  The peculiarity of the natives mixed myths and legends about the coexistence of man with flora and fauna, so every place has it share of mystery as the backdrop of the past.

TRADITIONS, MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Many legends are woven around the abrupt departure of the Jesuit missionaries after their expelling from the American territory around the 18th century. The burials of treasures belonging to the church in order to keep them safe from the greed of adventurers, or for when they hopefully return to the enchanted land, form part of the popular fables.  
Some hunters relate tales of ghostly priests wandering through the woods in wisps of light in possible places of buried treasures. 
The local indigenous mythology contributes its share of mystery. 
Every place in the forest, every river, every higher animal species, every tree has an "owner" of whom one must ask permission to hunt or use. The existence of these “owners” has the objective of taking care of the sustainable use. If a hunter shoots more than what is necessary, the “owner” of the species takes his revenge, making him a copy of the hunted animal and in turn, making him the prey of another hunter.   The ditches, lagoons and springs have a caregiver called "Jichi", of zoomorphic or anthropomorphic formation, which preserves them from human abuse.  (Be careful with the magic of the forest that usually enchants its visitors.) 

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN AND RENAISSANCE BAROQUE MUSIC "MISIONES DE CHIQUITOS"

From 1691 to 1760 the usually nomadic indigenous populations of Chiquitos were gathered in eleven settlements called “reductions”.  
The Jesuits used music as an instrument of the conversion of native inhabitants to Christianity. Hence each mission had a music school, a handicraft workshop, and a workshop where musical instruments were made.
Beginning with the collection of over 5,000 pieces and baroque musical compositions under the creative spirit of the Jesuit priest Doménico Zipoli, great architect of this musical treasure spread throughout the mission lands and that today make up the Baroque Music Mission Archive. Every two years (April-May) the International Festival of Baroque Music and American Missions Renaissance of Chiquitos is held that brings together worldwide advocates and musicians of baroque music. The stages of choral and orchestral performance are the Jesuit churches, built in a well-defined baroque style that combines indigenous architectural elements with those of Europe. Among those is the church in the nearby town of San José. They were declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The festival includes the interpretation of musical pieces with baroque instruments and has been included together with the missionary tour in the project declared as World Touristic Site.