Veracruz is a perfect place to begin to explore out-of-the-way, fascinating places. The true life of a people, the true culture, isn't found on the tourist trail. It's found back in the neighborhoods in cities, and in the small towns and villages. And you're invited!

Since Veracruz is one of the world's safest cities beginner-tourist's mistakes aren't dangerous. They're simply things to chuckle about as you head back to school and later to carry home as treasured memories.

Contact us:
info@veracruzspanish.com
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Phone:
Veracruz  011.52.229.931.4716
Tucson, AZ   (520) 903-0574

The School's Mexico Address
The Language Immersion School
Calle Alacio Pérez #61
Col. R. Flores Magón
Veracruz, Ver. Mexico
C.P. 91900

Very quickly you'll be ready to branch out. You may wish to head for archaeological sites--many are day trips, but the big ruins require a night on the road or even two nights. El Tajin is an easy overnight trip. Easy two night trips are Teotihuacán to the north and Palenque to the south. Soon after getting here you'll be feeling good about bus travel, and you'll be ready to go.

You'll also probably want to visit with families in different settings. We're happy to arrange weekend stays with traditional old-Mexico families in small villages around the region.

Veracruz and Mexico Cultural Notes

It Looks Like a State Fair [Veracruz]
At the cattlemen's association grounds there is a big party going on right now. It's their annual big event. There are stock shows and sales, and there are shows and sales of "show" stock.

The concerts have some of the biggest names in Mexico. The carnival is the largest seen to date here in town. The food is super.

And it's almost impossible to find an American or Canadian there. It's an up-to-date cultural event, and it has the happy charm of a "50s" state fair.

The Taxi Driver Said It. [Veracruz]
"It's because we're an open people."

I'd told him that Veracruz was a great place for foreigners to get to know the culture of Mexico. And he's right. With students we went to a beautiful eco-tourism spot last week, and we talk at length with the folks up there. In the midst of nature's beauty we learned a lot about the area's peoples, what they do, and how they think. In Veracruz, almost anything you do has you participating in cultural tourism.

Cultural Tourism with Spanish Study

• Language Study
  • Spanish for tourists is a study of fundamental grammatical structures and basic vocabulary needed to begin traveling the off-the-tourist-trail parts of Mexico on your own. The study has a small-group classroom component which is immediately brought into usable form in our Out-and-About Labs. Unlike traditional classroom study, with the help of our Charlantes, you’ll be speaking what you learn as soon as you learn. You’ll be learning in one of Mexico’s safest and most wonderful cities.

• “Tour” Stops
  • We need quotes around tour because you’ll be among and join in with the local people. It’s better to say Visit Stops. The friendly people of Mexico will open their tiny businesses and their homes to you. In the company of our Charlantes you’ll visit with local people in three-table restaurants, in living rooms, in schools and at street-vendor carts. You’ll be able to see more than just places, you’ll be able to participate in the lives and culture of the regular people.

• Travel in and around Veracruz
  • Each day while practicing your newly accquired language, you'll also be adding to your traveler's toolkit. You’ll handle taxi drivers and you’ll learn how to get around town and then back on city buses. You’ll practice taking the bus across the countryside to not-to-distant villages. You’ll learn to find your own way as our Charlantes step back and give you practice room. You’ll have the chance to make travelers mistakes in the safe City and State of Veracruz.

• Overnight and Weekend Trips
  • As soon as you feel ready we’ll help you plan overnight and weekend trips. Knowing that help is only a cell-phone call away, (we’ll give you one to carry) the concerns over getting lost or stranded are gone and you’ll begin to enjoy the wonderous pleasure of going where you want to go, seeing what you want to see, and visiting in the old and traditional culture of warm-hearted and welcoming Mexico.

• College Credit and CEUs
  • College credit is available through Pima Community College in Tucson (phouston@pima.edu).
  • CEUs and college credits through other schools are also available.

• Remember our Mix and Match
  • You can pick and choose from all our programs. Maybe you'd like to learn to make salsa, or go scuba diving (buceo in Spanish) or snorkeling. A day rafting or birding would be great. There's more to do than time permits. Because you do it with Mexicans it's all cultural tourism.
  • A glance through the other program pages will show you the many choices you have.
  • To get a closer look at the providers of the eco-tourism and adventure with whom we're associated please take a look at www.mexico-ecotourism.org. It's a group of locally-owned, small businesses sharing the beauty and wonder of their communities and the excitment of their adventure activities.

Before We Learned Spanish

• Every time we stepped onto a city bus we could only hope we’d get back, and every time we took a taxi we worried that we were paying to get from here to there by way of the “tourist bypass.”
  
• Directions were best guesses at what someone pointing this way and that meant. Banking was almost impossible.And we couldn’t just pick up and go because we just didn’t know how to get out and around.
  
• We desperately needed tourist’s Spanish. We went to the community college and began taking courses. We could read and write, but travel was only a little easier.
  
• We needed to be able to talk with people. We didn’t need the scope of what we had studied, but we needed to be able to speak.
  
• Our tourist’s Spanish will give you what it took us years to find, “How to talk your way into traveler’s freedom.”