Excursions

Feb 18 - 23: After you have completed the first three weeks of your first (or only) Spanish course, you will travel approximately 1½ hours to the Nahua indigenous village of Amatlan de Quetzalcoatl, where you will stay with Nahua host families for 5 nights and 6 days. Throughout your time in the community, you will have many structured learning opportunities, as well as time to spend with your indigenous host families. This seminar is an integral component of all your coursework, no matter which classes you are taking, and it provides an outstanding opportunity to take a “deep dive” into issues that you will continue to learn about throughout the semester: Mexican history and cultures, the Nahua indigenous cosmovision, spirituality, and traditional healing practices, racism and colorism, gender and sexuality, immigration, environmental issues, community organizing, and much more.

Social Work students: We have a formal exchange agreement with the National School of Social Work at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (the UNAM). This agreement includes a one week at the UNAM in Mexico City, where you will participate in classes and fieldwork alongside Mexican social work students. You will stay in the nearby Anglican Seminary's retreat center, where you will be provided meals, as well as transportation to and from classes at the UNAM. The retreat center has a strict 10 pm curfew. Moreover, it and the UNAM are at least an hour's drive from downtown Mexico City, as they are close to each other in the southern part of the city. Therefore, if you are interested in exploring night life in Mexico City, you should plan to do that during your spring break, on free weekends or after the semester ends.

The week after your trip to Mexico City, a group of the Mexican social work students will come to Cuernavaca for one week to participate in classes and guest lectures with you here. We hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to interact with the students and show them around town. Please note that you should try to avoid having visitors come during this week of the semester, as you will be expected to spend most of your time hosting the Mexican social work students.

LAMSC students will spend the same week in Mexico City, where you will most likely stay in a guest house near downtown. You will listen to guest speakers and participate in excursions related to the themes of migration, gender, sexuality, sustainability, and social change. You will probably visit a shelter for Central American migrants and also very likely visit the US Embassy while you are there.

Optional Saturday excursions will most likely include trips to the following locations:

• the Xochicalco "pyramids" an hour south of Cuernavaca

• the Teotihuacan "pyramids" north of Mexico City

• National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City

• the Aztec ruins and museum of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City

• An excursion to baroque churches and museums in and around the city of Puebla, which is a UNESCO world heritage site

• The National Art Museum in Mexico City

• The Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City

• Murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco

• The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City

• a water park in a beautiful location approximately one hour south of Cuernavaca