2009 Orchid Festival

by Festival de Orquideas
(Concepción, Bolivia)

Lea esto en ESPAÑOL

The 9th Annual Orchid Festival will take place in the Jesuit Mission town of Concepción, in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, October 9th - 11th, 2009

This is a really, really nice weekend to visit Concepción, just 4 hours by car or bus from the city of Santa Cruz, and one of the prettiest hilly green drives in the area. The best times to visit any of the ancient Jesuit Mission towns are when they have cultural festivals going on.

Everything begins on Friday, October 9th at 3:00 p.m. with an orchid exhibit in various homes, hotels and restaurants and continues with a recycling fair, artisan and handcraft fair, traditional music, woodcarving courses, mass at the 500-year old mission cathedral, a mission music (baroque music) concert, and traditional dances.

The event will be officially inaugurated at 8:30 am on Saturday the 10th. Following this you can spend the day at the orchid exhibit and contest, an orchid painting contest, a woodcarving contest (where they carve orchids in wood), artisan and handcrafts fair, a visit to the nearby town of Limoncito, street theaters, a Jesuit mission choir concert, and concerts in the main plaza at night by Animal de Ciudad (a wonderful local guitarist) and Contrapunto.

On Sunday the 11th there will be another orchid exhibit at the Hotel Ganadero followed by lectures, a typical foods fair, traditional handcrafts fair, and much more.

If you plan your trip in advance you can also visit San Javier, just 40 minutes from Concepción as well as the Lagoon at Concepción where Bolivians love to spend weekends swimming and jetskiing.

Hotels and inns fill up quickly so plan your weekend now. You can take a bus from the Terminal Bimodal in Santa Cruz for about Bs. 40 Hotels and inns range in price form Bs. 100 per night (about $13) to $150 dollars per night.

For more information, photos and videos (all in Spanish) see their website:
http://www.festivaldelaorquidea.com/