Discover Chiapas
Discover Chiapas with San Cristobal, San Juan Chamula, Palenque and fabulous Bonampak!
This amazing journey through Mayan temples and natural wonders is scheduled this year from Nov. 3 to Nov. 10, 2014, and is a chance to practice your Spanish in daily classes.
Tuition – $1250 per person
Includes: Daily 1-hour Spanish class, time to be arranged according to schedule; Airport transfers: Villahermosa to hotel and hotel to Tuxtla Gutiérrez Airport; Travel in air conditioned vans with a capacity of 18 – 20; Specialized English speaking guides and entrances to all the tours in itinerary; 8 days, 7 nights in double room (we can assign a roommate upon request) of four-star hotels; 7 American breakfasts included (coffee or tea, fruit, bread, eggs); 1 farewell dinner
Does not include: Airfares, International/Domestic; Meals not listed in itinerary or stated as optional; Beverages: soft drinks, bottled water, alcoholic drinks; Taxi fares, laundry, personal items; Gratuities; Travel Insurance*; Medical Expenses; Airport Taxes; Passport Fees
Our host: Kay Godfrey, Founder and Director of Language Link, a company which has sent thousands of Spanish students of all ages to destinations throughout Latin America and Spain. Kay earned a degree from the prestigious Latin American Institute of the University of Texas at Austin and has done further graduate work. She is the author of a guidebook to Cuernavaca, as well as a Cross-Cultural Guide to Doing Business in Mexico. With her many years of experience, she has arranged cultural and language trips for the Humanities Institute of Boston, Lakeview Museum of Illinois, and many major universities, among others. She contentedly lives in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she directs Language Link’s Latin America office.
What students say
“I liked most the small congenial group to travel with, and never felt we were on the tourist treadmill.”
“Our Chiapas trip was superior and of superior value.”
“The trip was a combination of beautiful sightseeing, friendly socializing and Spanish revival.”
Schedule
*Note: Meals included where indicated. B – American Breakfast (coffee, fruit, bread, eggs); L – Lunch; D – Dinner.
Day 1
Arrive on your chosen flight into Villahermosa. (There are many flights departing from Mexico City to here.) You will receive a personal transport from the airport to your comfortable hotel. At 7:30 pm, we will have a casual “get acquainted” meeting with complimentary drinks where we lay out our exciting plans.
Day 2 (B)
After breakfast in our hotel and checkout, we will tour the major attraction of Villahermosa, visiting one of the region’s greatest cultural collections: Museo Parque La Venta, where over 30 colossal basalt heads and other sculptures were moved from the original Olmec city in the late 1950s.A writer and poet by the name of Carlos Pellicer recommended these Olmec treasures be moved and safeguarded in a location away from the oil drilling. His advice was heeded, and thus the cultural treasure, Museo Parque La Venta was born. The Olmec flourished from about 900 – 400 BC, and are known as the ‘mother culture’ of all Mesoamerica. After hotel checkout, we will be transported to the archaeological site of Palenque (89 miles). We may arrange to have box lunches for purchase en route.Our visit is dedicated to learning how life and society was organized in early Maya civilization. Palenque is one of the largest and most distinct Maya sites with a proliferation of sculptures and glyph inscriptions. Historians and anthropologists continue to decipher and document their findings at this site. We begin by visiting the world-class, on-site museum where we learn about Maya glyph writing, and we see the spectacular incense burners and a replica of Pakal’s tomb. From the museum, we venture out onto the site, visiting the Temple of the Inscriptions, the Cross Group and the Palace, all on a limestone escarpment. Tonight you will sleep in the immediate environs of the ancient city, but in a modern and comfortable bed in a tropical hotel. There are interesting restaurants nearby for dinner choices.
Day 3 (B) (L)
An early morning departure will take us toward the Lacandón Jungle, where we will be received by the Lacandones. The Lacandones will take us to the archaeological site of Bonampak, where we will observe the best murals of the Maya World, depicting the Classic-era court life of the Maya. Our expert guide will lead us through the spectacular representations of the dress, civil, religious and military life of the Classic Maya. We then embark on our launch boats where we will travel for an hour down the Usumacinta River to visit Yaxchilán.This site, immersed in the rainforest, is filled with monumental temples and iconographic stelae, all documenting a glorious past.This riverfront, early Mesoamerican center is known for its fine examples of Mayan carvings and inscriptions on the lintels. We return on the Usumacinta River with an included lunch along the way.Arriving back at our Palenque hotel, we have an evening at leisure, listening to the surrounding jungle symphony.
Day 4 (B)
(B)After breakfast, we will check out of our hotel and make an early morning departure toward Agua Azul, where you can swim and enjoy the warm waters with their impressive blue color.We then continue to the waterfalls of Misol Ha, surrounded by a tropical jungle.We will end with the arrival at the colonial city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, declared a Patrimony of Humanity, and founded in 1524.Our hotel check-in will be for three nights in this lovely colonial city.There will be an optional dinner this evening at Casa Na-Bolom, at your own expense.This is the former home and study center of Frans and Gertrude Blom, who dedicated their lives to the study and preservation of the Lacandón forest, people and culture.
Day 5 (B)
This morning, we will have a city tour of San Cristóbal de las Casas, named after Bartolomé de las Casas, the first Bishop of Chiapas, who was known as the “conscience of the conquest,” given his tireless campaigns to put an end to the conquest methods used by the Spanish. We will visit the Mesoamerican Jade Museum with its four spaces and galleries dedicated to displaying the most representative jade jewelry of the Mesoamerican cultures. The climax of the museum is a replica of the tomb of the eleventh ruler of Palenque, Kinich Janaab Pakal, who died in 683 AD. In the Museo del Ambar, located in the recently restored Convento de la Merced, we will learn of this petrified gem of a million years ago. Also on our tour will be the Cathedral, Casa de las Sirenas, Arco del Cármen, Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Tianguis Artesanal de Santo Domingo and the colorful Mercado José Castillo Tielemans. The afternoon is free so that you can return to your own personal places of interest.Before dinner we will see a film about Chiapas, followed by a discussion to help us understand the background of this area.
Day 6 (B)
We venture into the villages of Zinacantán and San Juan Chamula, highland communities of Tzotzil-speaking Maya. In Zinacantán, flowers are seen everywhere; from the cultivation of geraniums, carnations and mums, to the bright embroidered flowers on the blue huipil worn by the women.Then we travel to the village of Chamula. Inside the centuries-old church, shamans kneel on pine branches and murmur pre-Columbian incantations, pour cane liquor over candles lit by villagers with a host of pleas—for health, wealth, even love.We enter into a surreal, mystical place where eggs, coca cola and posh (sugarcane-based firewater) co-mingle in a religious ceremony.We recognize that not far from us live people who have a very different cosmology and worldview than our own.Evening is at your leisure in San Cristóbal.
Day 7 (B) (D)
Our morning begins with a departure to Cahuaré where we take a boat journey (shared) to get our first breathtaking view of the massive Sumidero Canyon gorge, a dramatic rift caused by a seismic fault in the earth’s surface. The Grijalva River runs between the massive walls that are over 3,000 feet high, and as we travel through the canyon walls, we are engulfed in this dramatic geological phenomenon.Along the way we’ll admire the flora and fauna, including crocodiles, monkeys and an infinity of birds.On the way back to San Cristobal we will stop at Chiapa de Corzo, where the colonial history of the area started.We will end our day with a celebratory farewell dinner in San Cristóbal, swapping stories and memories.
Day 8 (B)
This morning, we will sadly say “Adiós a Chiapas” as we take our airport transport from our San Cristóbal hotel to the Tuxtla Gutiérrez airport, at the hour required by our individual flights.Most will depart on morning flights to be able to connect with flights in Mexico City to take them back home.The trip is 39 miles, or approximately one hour to the airport.
*Travel Insurance: Costs associated with trip interruption or modification due to weather, conditions, political/civil disputes, medical emergencies or other causes beyond our control. Travel Insurance is recommended for this purpose.