Wednesday, October 27 – Wednesday, November 3, 2004
FIVE NIGHT PACKAGE (Arrival can be on 10/27, 10/28, or 10/29 for a minimum of 5 night stay)

Additional nights available: Additional nights and optional excursions can be reserved at the time of the Package Reservation by noting your request in the comment box of the reservation form. Initially you will receive confirmation of the Five Night Package and later a confirmation of the package AND your requests.

THE FIVE NIGHT PACKAGE (land only) INCLUDES ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:

• Five night hotel accommodations.
• Arrival airport transfer and baggage handling
• Dinner and Day of the Dead lecture at the 5 star Hotel Camino Real on the 31st of October, followed by escorted cemetery tour to the village of Xoxocotlán.
• Guided half-day tour to Monte Albán archeological site.
• San Miguel cemetery tour and palapa lunch.
• See tour descriptions below. Additional tours and private car & driver service available.
• Rates quoted are in US currency, per person (not per room), tax (15% IVA) not included.

MONTE ALBAN TOUR: Included in your package
Sunday, October 31, 2004, 9:00 am– 12:30 pm

Guided tour to Monte Albán archeological site: Just ten kilometers (6 miles) from the city of Oaxaca lies Monte Albán, one of the very first cities in the new world. Founded approximately 500 years before the birth of Christ, the city grew and dominated the valleys of Oaxaca up to 750 a.d. It was the capital of the ‘cloud people’, the Zapotecs, for over a millennium. Monte Albán, served as a holy center for 40,000 of Zapotec ancestors 2500 years ago, was the epicenter of their culture and a place of divine worship.

TWO SPECIAL EVENTS: Included in your package
LECTURE, DINNER AND CEMETERY TOUR
Sunday, October 31, 2004, 5:30 pm– 10:00 pm

An unique opportunity to visit the cemetery and participate in the preparation of this great homecoming. This not-to-be-missed event starts with a pre-tour lecture and dinner at the magnificent chapel of the famed 5 star Hotel Camino Real.
The lecture will be highlighting the significance and mystery of this indigenous celebration before we depart to the Xoxocotlan village cemetery. Visitors will be given flowers and candles, so they too can participate. Event starts at 5:30 p.m. and the tour returns at 10:00 p.m.

CITY CEMETERY TOUR and PALAPA LUNCH
Monday, November 1, 2004, 11:00 am- 3:00 pm

We will visit the Panteon General San Miguel, the main cemetery located on the eastern edge of Oaxaca. Families begin arriving early in the morning, armed with scrub brushes and clippers, bearing flowers, candles, food and portraits of the dead to freshen up the graves. The thick outer walls of the cemetery hold rows of crypts stacked above each other like the cells of a honeycomb. Boys scale the walls and place a single, lit candle in front of each one of the 2,355 cells. Parallel to this inside wall, stretching for the length of a city block, are many beautiful altars, all glowing with light. Each altar is more elaborate, more inspiring than the next! After our visit to the cemetery we will enjoy an afternoon outside the city, under beautiful Oaxacan skies and under a palapa roof where our 'picnic' theme will be the most important foods of the indigenous people of Oaxaca including the traditional foods for the Day of the Dead; a meal of empanadas, quesadillas, tamales and, of course, tortillas de maiz, as well as the famous Oaxacan cheeses.

Book by March 31, 2004 and receive one of our exciting optional excursions at no additional cost.

We’ll visit San Bartolo Coyotepec, a village famous for its tradition of making black pottery in the technique preserved by the inheritors of this Zapotec craft. You will be welcome to view the process of making pots on the inverted saucers known as the “Zapotec wheel”.

And then to San Martin Tilcajete to visit the famous wood carvers who create extraordinary polychrome wood carvings in the shape of animals and mythical beasts. The artisan families work together as a unit, yet each person maintains his own brand of skill and ingenuity.

Visit Mitla archeological site, famous for the fineness of its many geometric mosaics decorating the palace walls. Stopping at the village of Santa Maria del Tule along the way. (The Tule tree is one of the world’s largest and oldest trees– 53 meters round, 41 meters tall and over 2000 years old).

Lunch at El Patio, with its breathtaking view of the mountains where our main meal of the day will be valley Zapotec cooking, starting with Consome Xochitl, typical botanas and cazuelas including mole negro Oaxaqueño. Followed by Café de Olla and Oaxacan dessert. Of course, no Oaxacan lunch would be complete without some excellent regional Mezcal served in a jarrito verde de Atzompa.

After lunch, we’ll visit Teotitlán del Valle, famous for its weaving since pre-Hispanic times. We’ll show you the plants that produce indigo blue dye, and the nopal cactus where weavers cultivate cochinilla bugs to produce the handsome red color (cochineal dye). We’ll also see a spinning, dying and weaving demonstration, and have the opportunity to purchase some of the magnificent, richly colored rugs produced in the village.