The Mexican Connection
Click here for trip specifics(Price correction – current estimate has dropped to between $3,000 - $3,500, all inclusive)
The First week we will be touring around Mexico City, mostly as a group, though individuals might go off in small groups now and then to explore, seeing pyramids, the museum of anthropology, the Diego Rivera museum, visiting a University for Indigenous peoples and getting to personally meet and get to know some of the students there....
The Second Week we will move to this school in Cuerna Vaca to take a one week intensive course in Spanish for Social Service Professionals – no worries, they start where you are, so, if you know zero Spanish, they’ll start there. In the afternoons there will be opportunities to tour social service agencies or volunteer on a number of projects.
In the evenings we will live with host families in homes such as these and enjoy all the culture that Cuerna Vaca has to offer.
Finally, the third week, we will be living in Oaxaca, on site at a special needs orphanage, with some amazing children (e.g. we’ll visit with a young man who is blind, but runs around with no cane because he can "hear" his way around). There we will work with the children, play, make paper mache pinatas, and other hands on crafts and, for those who want, we can also help in constructing a "home" (small cinderblock home - very small) for one of the families that lives and works in the local dump. A wonderful service, and a humbling experience for those who participate.
This week will truly be the high light of the trip. Here is one picture of the Orphanage, it is humble, but again, safe and liveable. Again, we will have many opportunities to forray out into Oaxaca, see the world's largest tree, see lots of markets and other cultural events, but primarily, during the day, spend time with these amazing children and really get to know them on a personal level.
Contact Dr. Sterling Wall for more info: swall@uwsp.edu