Learn Spanish while exploring the culture of Oaxaca, Mexico

Language and Culture in Oaxaca - January 2024

Language through Culture in Oaxaca

January 17-25, 2024

Your Guides: Mimi Marchev & Roberto Cruz

Brush up on your Spanish as you immerse yourself in Mexican culture on this trip to Oaxaca.

This unique tour to this colorful city will help you with your Spanish while simultaneously providing an entry point to the area’s culture, its crafts, diverse ethnic groups, and of course, its cuisine. And all this will be accomplished by meeting and interacting with local residents.

Instead of gathering in a classroom all day, you will be out in the community. You’ll have a full introduction to Oaxacan culture as we converse with vendors in traditional markets, meet artisans in the craft villages surrounding Oaxaca city, visit archeological sites, take a cooking class, and sample the amazing food of Oaxaca in restaurants, markets and village homes.

Throughout the week, you’ll be accompanied by your experienced Spanish teacher who will tutor you on the vocabulary you need to interact with your hosts as you have the opportunity each day to use your Spanish in real-world situations.

The format of this trip accommodates everyone from beginners to experienced Spanish speakers. And for those who wish to go further with their Spanish, a more traditional language add-on is optionally available in conjunction with a local language school. Indeed, you can stay and study Spanish in Oaxaca as long as you like.

Inquire About This Trip

Templo de Santo Domino in central Oaxaca

About the tour:

Oaxaca, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, is a magical city with excellent museums and galleries, striking examples of Spanish colonial architecture, fabulous restaurants, traditional markets and colorful festivals. It’s a place where you can experience all periods of Mexican history, from the pre-Columbian and colonial eras to contemporary times.

All this will be your classroom as you venture out daily to learn Spanish together with your language teacher and your guide.

Oaxaca City is ringed by small villages, many specializing in a particular craft such as woolen rugs, pottery, basketry, colorful cotton woven fabrics, embroidered clothing, tin and leather work and notably the intricately carved and painted wooden figures known as alebrijes. Also within easy reach of the city are several 2500-year-old Zapotec archaeological sites, including Monte Alban and Mitla.

Oaxaca has the charm of a small colonial city yet is large enough to offer a broad array of locations and experiences that will present opportunities to see a side of Mexico missed by most visitors – and of course, to practice your Spanish along the way.

Dates: January 17-25, 2024 in Oaxaca, Mexico
Cost: $3750 (see below for details)
Maximum group size: 12

More:

Meet your tour leaders

Mimi Marchev

Mimi served for 10 years as the Academic Director of college programs run by SIT Study Abroad, leading groups of US college students on academic semester programs in Chile and Mexico.

Mimi has also run other programs in Oaxaca, including ones for the River Gallery School and Maine Audubon, as well as other custom programs for US universities and organizations.

After earning a Masters degree from SIT Graduate Institute, Mimi served as Academic Director for the SIT Study Abroad programs in Valparaiso, Chile and Oaxaca, Mexico, and more recently in SIT headquarters in Vermont in the Legal and HR departments supporting the global SIT Study Abroad staff.

Mimi is a permanent resident of Mexico and enjoys retirement in Oaxaca, serving on the Board of Libros Para Pueblos and offering translation and interpretation services to several local NGOs.

In organizing this trip, Mimi has drawn from the many contacts she has in Oaxacan academic, cultural and culinary circles to arrange language teachers, guides, cooking class instructors, and more.

Roberto Cruz

Born and raised in Oaxaca, Roberto attended high school in Los Angeles where he became proficient in English. Roberto has over 20 years of experience teaching both English and Spanish as a foreign language. He served as Academic Coordinator of the Harmon Hall School of English in Oaxaca and now teaches Spanish full time to adult US and Canadian visitors and residents of Oaxaca.

Roberto’s experience living in two countries with disparate cultures and languages has resulted in a life-long interest in the connections between language and culture and he occasionally lectures and leads workshops on Oaxacan culture and language.

Tour Activities

While in Oaxaca, you will divide your time among our three tour themes of culture, crafts and cuisine, both inside and outside the city. Examples of possible tour activities include:

Crafts:

Excursions to craft villages

Teotitlan del Valle (woven woolen rugs)
Atzompa (green pottery)
San Martin Tilcajete (alebrijes)
Ocotlan (black pottery)
Santo Tomas Jalieza (woven cotton goods)

Visits with Artisan Cooperatives

Vida Nueva women’s weaving cooperative
Casa de Artesanía regional craft cooperative
MARO women artisan marketing cooperative

Cuisine:

Visits to major traditional public markets both in and outside the city

Dinners at top restaurants
Comida típica at village restaurants while on excursions
Optional cooking class

Culture:

Visits to museums and galleries:

Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca
Museo de Antropología de Rufino Tamayo
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo

Tours of Archaeological sites:

Monte Alban

Other activities:

Walking tour of the historic center of Oaxaca
Visit to the Tule Tree
Tlacolula Sunday Market
Tour of the Oaxaca Ethnobotanical Gardens

Where we’re based: Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca is a safe and accessible city that lies at 5,000 feet in the interior of southern Mexico. Its sunny and warm climate attracts a growing number of visitors, but the city has escaped the rapid development found along the coasts in Mexico. Your fellow visitors are as likely to be Mexicans from elsewhere in the country or European as Americans.

The city lies in a valley with green hills on all sides and the historic center of the city could be as easily in Spain as in Mexico. Such is the Spanish heritage of this vibrant city. But Oaxaca is uniquely Mexican and it is considered a cultural jewel both by Mexicans and by visitors.

The center of the city is quiet with pedestrian streets, outdoor cafes, galleries and craft shops. There are many public markets within walking distance of the city center, not to mention the zocalo central plaza with its wrought iron bandstand, cathedral, botanical gardens, and the dominant Templo de Santo Domino.

Oaxaca is also a place of great ethnic diversity, as you’ll see while we visit some of the many villages that surround the city. In addition to Spanish, you’ll have the chance to pick up some vocabulary from 15+ indigenous languages spoken in the area.

Where we’ll stay:

We will stay at the Hotel Casa de la Tía Tere, a short walk from the historical center of Oaxaca. The hotel features comfortable rooms, an inviting pool, and pleasant outdoor spaces for breakfast and general relaxation.

The Hotel Casa de la Tía Tere’s website is at: www.casadelatiatere.com

Trip Details

(Click + to expand)

January 17-25, 2024 (8 nights - 9 days)
Total cost of the tour: $3750

Supplement for single occupancy: $475

Deposit required to reserve a place on the tour: $350

(Places in the tour are limited to 12 and are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend that you reserve your place early!)
Payment schedule
$350 deposit. The deposit is refundable through September 1, 2023.
$1700 initial payment (Due September 1, 2023)
$1700 final payment (Due November 1, 2023)
All payments are refundable if we need to cancel the trip due to government restrictions or unsafe travel conditions.
** Earn a $300 discount when you bring or refer a friend.
- Language instructor and onsite instruction
- Excursions and special activities throughout the week
- Pickup and drop-off at designated airport
- 8 nights lodging
- 8 dinners and breakfasts, with appropriate amounts of alcohol
- Local transportation by van and driver
What’s not included:
- Airfare & Travel Insurance
- Lunches
- Misc. entry fees
We will stay at the Hotel Casa de la Tía Tere, a short walk from the historical center of Oaxaca. The hotel features comfortable rooms, an inviting pool, and pleasant outdoor spaces for breakfast and general relaxation.
Learn more about the hotel at: www.casadelatiatere.com
Dinners will be taken at local restaurants throughout the week. Breakfasts are at our hotel.
To extend your trip, and take some time to catch up on your sleep before the tour begins, you may wish to arrive early.
You can also extend your trip by registering for additional language classes at our affiliated language school. Ask us for details.
Your deposit is non-refundable after September 1, 2023 unless of course the trip is canceled for any reason by Travel Fever Tours. Natural disasters, political instability or low enrollment would form the basis for canceling a trip. After that date, payments you make are nonrefundable.

You will be contacted once the trip reaches minimum enrollment so that you can proceed with purchase of your flights and make other travel arrangements. In all cases, review of enrollment numbers will not take place any later than the date of the First Installment payment.

Note: This trip will involve quite a lot of walking both inside and out of the city of Oaxaca. Within the city there are cobblestones and other uneven surfaces. You must be able to walk distances, as city dwellers do, over uncertain surfaces to participate in this trip.