The Russian in Bolivia are among the most traditional and conservative of all the Mennonites denominations in South America. Since coming to Bolivia, a number of other people from other ethnic backgrounds have converted to Mennonite Christianity, mostly through missionaries of more liberal forms of Mennonitism. Listen to a young Mennonite woman living in Mexico speaking in Plautdietsch. Mennonites of Bolivia speak Plautdietsch, an East Low German dialect with some Dutch and Friesian elements. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, its capital city, is currently the largest and fastest growing city in Bolivia. Santa Cruz is the largest of Bolivia's nine departments (states) and covers most of the Eastern half of the country. If interested, it is also possible to visit one of the Mennonites colonies during our trip to the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitania. The weather in Santa Cruz Bolivia is warn to hot and fairly humid 9-10 months of the year. The Mennonites come to the city of Santa Cruz in order to sell their products (mostly eggs, butter and cheese which are well-known and consumed as “homemade quality” products) and to run household errands in the stores in and around the local market of “Los Pozos”.
Currently there are more than 60 colonies in the Santa Cruz area and as each family has approx 8 children their numbers are expanding rapidly. Their colonies can be found in the department of Santa Cruz, in the lowlands of Eastern Bolivia. In 2012, there were about 70.000 Mennonites living in Bolivia. In the 1930’s the Bolivian government welcomed the skilled farmers and granted a privilege to future Mennonite immigrants including freedom of religion, private schools and exemption from military service, but that was not deployed until the 1950’s. The Mennonites in Bolivia are mostly Russian Mennonites descended from Friesian, Flemish and North German people who came to South America from 1927 onwards.
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