Missions: San Rafael de Velasco

Things to do

• The church and its mica-decorated interior
• A quiet village, off the usual route
• A stop between San Ignacio and San José de Chiquitos

What to eat

• Locro de gallinaA thick rice soup with free-range chicken, comforting and typical of the east.
• MajaditoRice cooked with charque or chicken, served with a fried egg and fried plantain. The dish of Santa Cruz and the Beni.
• Cuñapé and pan de arrozLittle cheese breads made with cassava or rice flour, served warm with coffee in the morning.

Also here

• UNESCO Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos

How to get to San Rafael

• San Miguel Road (bus, car) · 45 min

  Taxi or the occasional micro.

• Santa Ana Road (bus, car) · about 1 h

  Dirt track, by taxi or on a day tour.

Photos of Missions: San Rafael de Velasco

More places in this region

• Missions: San JavierThe first of the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos (UNESCO), with painted wooden churches.
• Missions: ConcepciónThe most beautiful square of the missions, with a restoration workshop and a museum.
• Missions: San Ignacio de VelascoThe hub of the missions circuit, with its lagoon.
• Missions: San Miguel de VelascoA Chiquitano mission with woodcarving workshops that are still very much alive.
• Missions: Santa Ana de VelascoThe most authentic of the Chiquitos missions, with its original organ.
• Missions: San José de ChiquitosThe only stone Jesuit mission, at the foot of the hills.
• Noel Kempff Mercado National ParkA vast and very remote UNESCO park: the Huanchaca plateau and the Arco Iris falls.