Oaxaca Immersion Trip 2024: We’re back from Oaxaca, México! How was the trip? 10/10 would do it again! See below for more info on this Spanish immersion travel program. Stay tuned for future posts if you’d like to read about it in Spanish. 🙂

Monday – First Full Day:

Our Spanish Immersion Travel Program began with a city walking tour on Monday morning. I like to start the week off by getting to know the city and familiarizing ourselves with our surroundings. Our guide, Gabo, picked us up at the hotel and walked us around the city, pointing out historically and culturally relevant buildings, museums, and street art. I met Gabo in 2023, and I immediately knew that I wanted to partner with him for future immersion groups. Gabo is so knowledgeable about the history, culture, and art in Oaxaca – it’s the perfect way to kick off the program and begin our immersion experience.

In the afternoon, we met up with Karla for a cooking class. We first walked to the market and listened to Karla speaking with vendors about prices, ingredients, different types of chiles, spices, nuts, etc. What better way to practice your language listening skills than to hear natural flowing conversation in the market?!

With our ingredients in hand, we returned to the hotel and made memelas and salsas together and shared in a delicious meal of authentic Oaxacan flavors.

Tuesday – Spanish Classes & Free Day:

Travelers started the day with an individualized Spanish class, which allows each participant to focus on their personal goals – whether that be strengthening the basics or working on advanced grammar and conversation.

And that’s it! After class, we had a free day. This time is important not only to customize the experience, but also for rest. Speaking in another language all day, in addition to traveling and taking in a lot of new information, can be very tiring. The unstructured time allowed for travelers to rest, recharge from social activities, or go out exploring the city and practicing the language on their own.

Travelers could choose to visit the markets, attend local art classes, shop for souvenirs, find the foods on their bucket list, visit museums and landmarks, engage in conversation with the locals, etc. It’s an opportunity to customize the experience!

Wednesday: Hierve el Agua y Tour de Mezcal

Wednesday morning we visited Hierve el Agua and received a guided tour up and down the mountain. Aurelio, our 80-year old guide, talked with us about the natural landscapes, petrified waterfalls, and the flora and fauna in the area. Our group took breaks for rest and water as needed while Aurelio zipped up and down the mountain no problem! The reward for this moderate hike was time to relax in the natural pools with mountain views.

After a morning surrounded by nature, we stopped at a mezcal distillery on the way back to Oaxaca city. We learned about the production process, not complete without a little taste testing. Miguel, our guide, answered all our questions and taught us some new toasts and cheers. As a language teacher, I can’t help but notice how great this was for language practice – we listened and repeated the phrases after Miguel to practice pronunciation and intonation. 🙂

Thursday – Spanish Class & Free Day:

Thursday was a copy & paste of Tuesday: we started the day with individualized Spanish classes, and afterwards all travelers had a free day to rest and recharge or schedule their own activities. Below are some photos I took while taking a slow day of walking around, stopping in cafes, and exploring shops.

Friday – Monte Albán & Mundo de Talentos Exchange:

And just like that – it was already Friday, the last day of the trip! We took a guided tour of Monte Albán first thing in the morning. Monte Albán is an archaeological site one of the earliest cities in Mesoamerica complete with temples, plazas, houses, tombs, astronomical observatory, and even a ball court. We learned about ingenuity and legacy of the Zapotec people while surrounded by mountain views.

In the afternoon, we participated in a language exchange with Mundo de Talentos, an organization that provides vocational training and career exploration to students ages 10-13 in the Oaxaca area. We learned about the students’ interests and hobbies through mutually beneficial conversation in English and Spanish. I hope to continue offering these meaningful opportunities for connection in future immersion programs!

Our hotel, Hotel Con Corazón, donates much of its profits to educational projects in the Oaxaca area, including organizations like Mundo de Talentos. A vital part of these immersion travel experiences is ensuring that our presence invests in the communities that we visit.

That evening, we had our final group dinner and shared memories from the week together – whether that be “aha!” moments of language learning or favorite moments with other members in the group. If you’re reading this post, and you spent the week with me in Oaxaca this past October 2024 – THANK YOU for being part of this incredible experience! I will treasure these memories for years to come. ♡

It’s difficult to recap a week of memories in one blog post, but I did my best! Oaxaca 2024 travelers, what did I miss? Other than our inside jokes that no one will ever understand! 😉

If you’re thinking of joining me on a future immersion program, make sure to subscribe to updates. I’m currently brainstorming programs for 2025 to continue facilitating moments of language learning, cultural immersion, and human connection. ♡