This week we traveled out east, to Santiago de Chuiquitos, together with Liz' second cousin Helga Fehr and her son Wesley (they live in colony Canadiense II here in Bolivia). After a 10-hour train ride from Santa Cruz, we arrived in Robore at 2.30am and took a taxi the last half hour to Santiago. We stayed in a guest house owned by Milton and Katherine Whittaker. From there it´s about a 10-minute walk to the Whittaker's ranch home (entrance shown above). We enjoyed visiting with them and exploring the town a bit. The weather felt quite tropical--hot and humid, but also very smoky due to the recent spate of fires burning out of control.
The community of Santiago hosts a fine Baroque music program for children and youth. MCC has supported this by providing a one-year SALT position each of the past four years (the fourth arrived when we were there) to teach music lessons and direct a youth orchestra and choir. A past SALTer, who is still in the area, also arranged for an organ to be shipped from Earlham college and installed in the Catholic church--quite a rarity in this country and certainly in this rural area! Liz had a grand time trying it out a bit, and then five of us MCCers had a wonderful impromptu hymn sing around it.
These photos are from the guesthouse, hosted by Dona Marta, who cooks quite the delicious meals and provides a running local commentary.
This was Jonathan's first train ride. Memorable, if not exactly fun.
And here is a short video of the Santiago youth choir practicing.
For more photos, click here.
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