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(For High School Students)
La Ruta Maya
Language Immersion, Cultural Exchange &
Service Program
Session One: June 20th thru July 3rd (14 days)
Session Two: July 6th thru July 19th (14 days)
Ages Session 1: 14 to 17
Ages Session 2: 13 to 15
Size of group: 16-18 students
Tuition: $3,295 (plus RT airfare, group flight from Houston)
YUCATAN, MEXICO WILL TRANSPORT YOU FROM GLORIOUS MAYA CITIES AND MAJESTIC SPANISH COLONIAL HACIENDAS
TO SPECTACULAR CARIBBEAN BEACHES. Join us on a journey through the Yucatan Peninsula that tourists never encounter. Explore and swim in breathtaking freshwater ‘cenotes’; work and play with Maya families while helping them improve their homes and community facilities; eat a home-cooked Mexican meal; and vastly improve your Spanish along the way!
Service Projects*
- Work as activity coordinators at a summer camp for Mexican youth, El Curso de Verano de Izamal
- Pour a concrete floors for and with several Mexican families
- Distribute ‘dispensas’ of food and toiletries to low-income families
Language Immersion*
- Take conversation classes at El Centro de Idiomas in Merida
- Engage in leader facilitated language lessons during the homestay
- Experience a homestay in the “yellow city” of Izamal
- Learn salsa and traditional dances
Adventure and Cultural Activities*
- Visit the Maya ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itza
- Swim in an underground pool or “cenote”
- Sleep in a hand woven Mayan hammock
- Scuba dive the famous Palancar Reef
*Please note that some of the projects and activities will change from year to year. A final itinerary will be printed prior to each trip.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
Merida, Cuzama, and Orientation (2 days) – A journey to Yucatan must always begin by acquiring a hammock! After arriving in the capital city of Merida, we will take a day to get to know one another, explore the charming colonial city, and bargain for our colorful, hand woven hammocks. The following day we have a morning of Spanish lessons and then are off for an unforgettable journey on an old Hacienda railway system to swim in the spectacular, clear blue waters of three underground cenotes.
Izamal and Homestays (8 days) – Families from the “yellow city” of Izamal eagerly greet us and take us into their homes for the next week. With one or two students matched per homestay family, you will share in the daily lives of your new host-family. During the day, the group will come together for service projects, such as working as activity instructors at a local elementary school, and pouring cement floors for several Mexican families in need of improving their homes. We will take afternoon swims in a nearby cenote that provide a unique opportunity to cool off in the heat of the day—a big hit! In the evenings we’ll keep busy with activities such as attending a Mexican professional baseball game with our homestay families as they cheer for the local team, Los Leones de Yucatan.
Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum (3 days) – Despite the sadness of leaving our new family and friends, we’ll look forward to our fabulous beachside accommodations for the final days. Puerto Morelos offers the last chance to hang a hammock under a palm tree and relax. We scuba dive the famous Palancar reef, the second largest barrier reef in the world! We take a PADI introductory scuba diving lesson (resort course) in Puerto Morelos, a perfect beginning for those who always wanted to give scuba diving a try. After scuba class and time in a pool with an instructor, we will experience a dive at the living coral reef. We take an exciting day trip to Playa del Carmen’s bustling Quinta Avenida makes for great people watching, beach combing, and shopping. One of the nights we will take a hike with the Centro Ecológical De Acuma in hopes of seeing nesting sea turtles. Lastly, the group will visit the remarkable Mayan ruins of Tulum set against the backdrop of the shimmering Caribbean Sea.
Travel Home (1 day) – On the final night we’ll enjoy a farewell celebration before boarding a short flight home. It is the end of a trip, but a beginning to a new awareness about yourself and new cultures. Join us for an amazing journey through the land of the Maya!
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