Sample Travel Seminar Itinerary
Mexico (faculty development seminar)

While each Center for Global Education travel seminar is uniquely designed, the following is a representative sample itinerary of a faculty development seminar to Mexico. This sample generally represents the types of encounters you would experience on a nine-day trip, as well as the pace of the program. Each trip’s actual itinerary will vary based on program focus, length, timing and local events. 

Day 1 

2:30pm Travel to Cuernavaca from Mexico City airport. 

4:30pm Arrive at Centro de Educación Mundial en América Latina (CEMAL) in Cuernavaca. House orientation and settle into rooms. 

5:30pm Dinner. 

6:30pm Welcome. Overview of program. 

Day 2 

8:00am Breakfast. 

8:45am Discussion groups with CEMAL staff on current issues (e.g. immigration, peso devaluation, etc). 9:45am Instructions for the self-guided market survey exercise in downtown Cuernavaca. The main purpose of this exercise is to familiarize participants with the challenges faced by the average Mexican consumer. Information gathered from the survey will be drawn upon throughout the seminar. 

10:00am Depart in small groups for market survey. 

1:00pm Lunch. 

3:00pm Debrief market survey. 

3:45pm Depart in small groups for family visits in nearby neighborhood. 

4:00pm Conversation with families about current issues and daily life in Cuernavaca. 

6:15pm Dinner. 

7:00pm Group reflection at CEMAL to discuss what small groups learned during the visits with families. 

Day 3 

8:00am Breakfast. 

9:00am Opportunity to purchase crafts from members of local artesans cooperative. 

10:00am Group activity focused on our past experiences with teaching and learning. 

1:00pm Lunch. 

2:00pm Optional Spanish class at Universal Language School. 

4:00pm Part 1 – Lecture on current political and economic situation in Mexico by local economist representing a non-governmental organization (NGO) which synthesizes and distributes information published in the print media on economic and political issues. 

6:00pm Dinner. 

7:00pm Part II - Lecture on current political and economic situation. 

Day 4 

8:00am Breakfast. 

9:00am Depart for visit. 

9:30am Discussion with a representative from the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) about the PRD's vision for Mexico into the year 2000. The PRD is a key opposition party in Mexico to the ruling PRI party. 

11:30am Group discussion session at CEMAL. 

1:00pm Lunch. 

2:30pm Depart for visit. 

3:00pm Curriculum development workshop focusing on systemic change with representative from the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM). 

6:30pm Dinner. 

Day 5 

8:00am Breakfast. 

9:00am Depart for agricultural research center in countryside. 

10:00am Tour facilities and talk with site superintendent about work of research center. 

12:00pm Depart for indigenous town nearby. 

12:30pm Lunch (picnic style) at Nahuatl language school. 

1:30pm Lecture on indigenous ways of understanding the world by the Director of the Nahuatl school. 

3:30pm Discussion with community activists about the town’s history of struggle for social change. 

5:30pm Dinner. 

6:15pm Discussion on current issues in agriculture with family of farmers. The meeting will take place in their field which is planted with beans, corn and peanuts.

Day 6 

8:00am Optional Mass at San Antón Parish. 

8:30am Breakfast. 

9:45am Depart for Palace of Hernán Cortés. 

10:00am Explanation by local historian of Diego Rivera mural in the palace. 

11:00am Depart for visit to Xochicalco archeological site. Xochicalco means “place of the house of the flowers”, and was the ceremonial center for one of the diverse groups of indigenous people inhabiting the region before the arrival of the Spaniards. 

12:00pm Lunch (picnic style). 

1:00pm Tour of pyramids with local historian. 

4:00pm Return to Cuernavaca. 

6:00pm Dinner. 

Day 7 

7:15am Breakfast. 

8:15am Depart for a community bordering Cuernavaca's industrial park CIVAC (Centro Industrial del Valle de Cuernavaca).  

9:00am Visit with members of a community group working to improve the environment through family gardens, worm-composting and propagation of medicinal plants indigenous to the region. 

10:30am Depart for factory visit in CIVAC. 

11:00am Tour of paint factory and discussion about environmental issues with the plant owner and manager of human resources. 

12:30pm Return to CEMAL. 

1:00pm Lunch. 

3:00pm Discussion of “border crossings” and encounters with “the other”. The group will explore possible curricular implications of wisdom drawn from the fields of multicultural education and international education. 

4:45pm Depart for PAN (National Action Party)
headquarters. 

5:00pm Talk on the PAN's vision for Mexico into the year 2000 with the President of the PAN’s state party leadership. 

7:00pm Dinner.

Day 8 

7:00am Breakfast. 

7:45am Depart for agricultural training school in nearby indigenous town. 

8:30am Tour of school. 

9:30am Workshop at the school on making typical sweets from state of Morelos using locally grown products. This session will be led by women from the community learning to make and sell these sweets at home as a way to supplement family income. 

11:30am Discussion with faculty about academic exchange programs and other possible forms of collaboration. 

1:30pm Lunch (in cafeteria). 

2:30pm Return to Cuernavaca. 

4:00pm Final group reflection. Fill out program evaluation. 

6:00pm Dinner. 

Day 9 

7:30am Breakfast. 

9:15am Final announcements. 

9:45am Load vans. 

10:00am Depart for Mexico City airport.