Wow Weekend!

What a weekend it has been. Each day we have been here has been an incredible experience. We visited the town of Tarata Sat. to hear the muscial group from Chiquitania perform. The group is comprised of students that looked to be about 7 - 16 years old. They were incredible. They performed in a church that dates back to the 1500´s. There were about two - three hundred students that greeted them when they arrived. All the students were standing in lines with their teachers, very orderly and quiet until the groups arrival, which was later than scheduled.
Right after the performance we were fortunate to witness a wedding in the church.
The tour guide told us that the wedding celebration will last for five days!

Our lunch was quite an experience. We left Tarata by bus for the restaurant. After a journey of ten minutes or so through very narrow, dusty streets we arrived at a house just outside the town. The guide got off the bus and banged on the gate. We thought we had stopped for a break or to look at something notable. Well, this place was notable. It was our restaurant! Our restaurant was outside, with food served from huge pots and tree stumps as chairs. The choir joined us and another musical group from Tarata. They were all so pleased to have us as their lunch guests.

We went to Tarata on Sunday to tour the La Angostura which houses an 8000 volume archive that dates back to the Incan civilization. Included in the archive is an original two volume set of Don Quiote. We were also shown a sexton used by the Spanish explorers. This library also housed the first printing press in all of S. America. The room was very small, dusty, and did not seem to be one that was used very often. In the loft of this library were the oldest manuscripts. The architecture in the church was fabulous.

We also went to the small village of Chiquitania on Sunday. The entire village produces pottery to sell at the La Concha. Our guide told us the children go from bottle to pottery wheel. The kilns were outside adobe ovens fired by eucalyptus and wood. None were being used on this day. Since we visited this area on Sunday, most were at a market selling the pottery . But, there was an older gentleman that demonstrated the wheel for us. In a span of about ten minutes he threw four pieces of pottery; one being a bowl with a lid that he threw perfectly the first time. He had been making pottery since age six.

The weekend´s experiences were fabulous.

Karen K.