Mercifully, San Ignacio was largely overcast today and lot cooler.

Today at breakfast there was no discussion about indigenous burglers, nor was I tempted to have any Sonso (a mix of Yucca and disgusting Bolivian cheese). It was once again a slow start, San Ignacio square almost empty, before everything erupted once again around 10.

Today was the day the authorities put on their main show. There was a mass in the church, the priest giving out holy water and giving a service, seemingly focusing on San Ignacio and the Jesuits spreading the word of Christ to the Moxeno people - the crux of the whole ceremony.

Once that was all said and done it was time for another parade around the plaza. There were the same characters as yesterday, the Achus, Macheteros and old ladies in pink dresses. But this time, the Achus had fireworks coming out from their hats, like last night, and the priest, his priest-mates, and the dignatries from the local government were also out in force, wearing mayoral banners and fancy green/white outfits.

Afterwards there was a big musical performance in the hall of the cathedral before everything disipated once again. It appears that that was the main finale to the festival, and what a finale it was.

It was more lazing around, napping, stomach mind games before...bullfighting...

I'm no fan of bullfighting. I think it's a horrific sight, seeing so many people gain so much laughter and pleasure from seeing an animal in incredible distress. But it was still an intriguing experience.

The bullfighting was housed in a make-shift arena, made largely of former tree trunks. To get to the wooden planks used as seating you had to use a precariously placed ladder, the whole thing was very "we're in the middle of the jungle so don't care for health and safety". Several times the, cow as it turned out, ran over the idiot human provoking it, although many of them had had several cans of Pacena (Bolivian beer) so seemed to have an unnatural obliviousness to the danger of being in a confined space with a raging bull (cow...).

After about the fifth attempt by the cow to make an exit near to the precariously stacked planks of wood where I was sitting I decided to leave, clambering down an equally precariously wobbly ladder. That seems largely to be it for the Fiesta de Moxos!

It's been a lot of lazing around, with the occasional awakening by a marching band, followed by whistling and drumming - as marching bands are pretty constant so usually no reason to get up. But San Ignacio has definitely been an interesting diversion. It's going to be harder to write this article as most people I've tried to ask what's going on have simply replied with an obvious statement, i.e. simply repeating what I've just said - "Are they the Achus?", "Yes, they are the Achus". Haven't quite worked out what the Achus actually are, what it comes from etc. and there's precious little information on-line, so perhaps an expert in La Paz may need to be found to bolster the article.

Still, I can't lie, whilst I have enjoyed the jungle, I'm very much looking forward to leaving. I want to, at least physically speaking, rest for a bit and get my energy back up to head to Peru and onwards, in just 13 days time! It's all gone unbelievably quickly, though Oxford and all that does noticeably feel further in the past.

I hear fireworks....

Vamos!