Roaming South America

UNESCO Heritage Sites - Part 3

June 16, 2026

My previous 2 blogs talked about some of the towns (pueblos) east of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. After going out to Roboré and Santiago de Chiquitos, I returned to the town of San José de Chiquitos. San José is the turn-off point to do the northern circuit of the Jesuit Missions. The first stop is San Rafael. From there, you visit San Ignacio, Concepción, San Javier, and San Julián. Those are the towns with the UNESCO Jesuit Missions churches that survived the centuries and were restored in the 1980s and 1990s. The first blog of this series also spoke about the Jesuits and their missions, and the second blog also spoke about the Mennonites who live in this part of Bolivia.

San Ignacio

The San Ignacio mission was founded in 1748. This large town has a population of probably around 35,000. Therefore, you won't be short on services as in the previous, much smaller towns. I even found a couple of coffee shops and a couple of ice cream shops here. And they have a proper supermarket. Though I didn't see any cartridges for the Mach 3 razor, so I'll have to hope the one extra I have left will be all I need until I get to Santa Cruz. This town is surprisingly quiet considering its size. That's nice, but many of the streets are littered more than the smaller towns. Before I checked into the hotel I chose, I checked four other hotels, and all were BS240 (US$34) or more per night. The hotel I'm in is four blocks from the plaza and is only BS130 (US$18) per night, if I remember correctly.

Concepción

This is one of the more pleasant towns I've visited in Bolivia. But, with that said, it still doesn't compare to Oxapampa or Villa Rica, Perú. But it is a nice place to spend a day or two relaxing. The town was founded in 1709. The UNESCO-listed Jesuit Mission church here dates back to 1722. It is one of the 6 restored in the 1980s and 1990s. The town is quite pleasant around the main plaza and center area. The main business district is out along the highway, leaving the historic center quiet. There are a couple of ATMs and many hotels/hostels. There's also a new coffee shop, and it's very good. It's called "El Viejo Rubio Specialty Coffee" and has two young women running it. One is from the US and the other is from Germany. In the evenings, they have two other young women, one from Montana, USA, and the other from New York, USA. So, for English speakers, visit this coffee shop for great coffee and conversation in English.

San Javier

San Javier is another small town with a UNESCO Jesuit Mission at the plaza. In this town, just about all the businesses are on the highway or around the mercado, one block from the highway. At the plaza, you'll find the Jesuit church, one restaurant open for lunch only, and some offices. In the neighborhoods, homes and almost no home-based businesses. As for hotels/hostels/etc, there are two hotels on the highway and a few smaller hosterias scattered about. There is one bank and one ATM on the highway, and a coffee shop near the plaza. No grocery store/supermarket, not even a mini-market, but there are lots of tiendas (convenience stores) and the mercado. So, other than the church, what else is there to see? Nothing.

San Julián

San Julián does not have a Jesuit Church. I planned on this being an overnight stop on the way to Santa Cruz, which would also be an overnight stop on the way to Samaipata. Anyway, San Julián has a population of around 24,000, and its economy is heavily based on agriculture. Getting here was interesting - the trufi I got in San Javier stopped in San Ramon. I changed to another truck, and it went as far as the roadblock. Yeah, the highway was blocked by protests. So, everyone got out and started walking. Once past the roadblock, some people took motos and various shared taxis to San Julián. I looked at the map and saw that San Julián was only a 2-hour walk, so I walked it. No big deal, I walk for hours every day, so I'm accustomed to it. So, in San Julián, I started looking for a place to stay. I looked at several and decided not to eat each one. I found one that looked reasonably good, so I asked to look at the room, and somebody had some music playing very loudly. I asked if that was going on all day, and the answer was yes. I turned around and left. After a walk through the town plaza and headed for the trufis, and about a half-hour later was on the road for Santa Cruz. But, because of more roadblocks, the driver had to take an alternative route - through farm roads. It was a bit rough, but we arrived in Santa Cruz no more than a half-hour later than scheduled. So, is San Julián worth a visit? No.

To Summarize

While in San Ignacio, I saw an unusual tiny car - a Quantum E4. Turns out Quantum is an auto manufacturer in Cochabamba. They build EVs for the Bolivia, Perú, Paraguay, Mexico, and El Salvador markets. Fun fact from the Quantum website's history page: When Quantum first started putting Bolivian-made electric cars on the road, authorities reportedly fined some owners because the cars had no import paperwork. The bureaucracy basically said, “A car made in Bolivia? Nice try.” Tiny electric comedy of errors. Quantum itself tells that story as part of its early history. There are pics in my photo album.

That finishes my tour of the Jesuit UNESCO churches of Bolivia. I did miss one, though, because of problems with getting to it. I don't have my own vehicle, and public transport out to Santa Ana is iffy at best. That is the one I missed. The churches are striking to look at - the detailed work put into painting the designs that cover the fronts of the churches, the woodwork that went into the columns, and the interiors. If you visit Bolivia, you'll most likely visit La Paz, Uruni, and Potosí, but I think you should visit these small towns and those UNESCO-recognized Jesuit churches.