July’s Mexico trip is muy campechana

Special to the News-Register

Buenos Dias! How about spending two weeks of learning and adventure in warm Campeche, Mexico, this summer?

Travel dates are July 6-20. Two field courses will be offered: Conversational Spanish (Spanish 2306) and the Heritage of Mexico (History 2380) in the beautiful colonial city of Campeche, located right on the Gulf of Mexico.

North Lake College faculty members Drs. Olivia Villagra and Lynn Brink will once again coordinate the trip.

Spanish 2306 is designed to immerse you in the language and culture as you live in this safe small town and board in a nurturing Mexican home. The history itinerary includes trips to the Maya site of Ezdna, and several days in the colonial “white city” of Merida, as well as visits to revolutionary and modern Mexican locations.

You can swim with baby marine turtles at an ecological ‘save the turtles’ station in the Gulf of Mexico, see millions of pink flamingos nesting in seaside lagoons, enjoy a gala lunch at a fabulous restored 18th Century hacienda in the jungle, and this year visit the enormous 1,700-acre Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and classic Mayan city which rivaled Tikal in its heyday. At Calakmul, you will stay in ecotourism resort facilities.

Cost of the program is $1300.00 plus tuition at NLC. You may take these courses for credit or through Continuing Education. Included in the cost are the following:

- 15 days in Mexico
- Roundtrip airfare from Dallas to Mexico
- Room and board (2 meals per day)
- All ground transportation in Mexico
- All field trips and touring in Mexico

Campeche is an untouched place in the heart of “la ruta maya.” In 1999, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named the city a world heritage site. Campeche has restored more than 1,000 downtown building facades to their original Spanish colonial style. Old Campeche is a pastel rainbow of color where the Spanish colonial world is alive again.

Campeche is also the hometown of Olivia Villagra, who knows everyone in town and creates interesting things for students to experience. Her connections will take you right into the warm heart of Mexico, its history, culture and people.

To secure your place and preferred dates on the trip or for more information, e-mail or call Lynn Brink (3545) or Olivia Villagra (3496). You can also visit the Web site at w.northlake.edu/special_programs/mexico/mexico.htm.

The trip is open to all faculty, staff, students and community.