JULY 12-21, 2002
What it costs and what's included
Tour price of $1050 includes:
Ten days, ten nights hotel accommodations. While in Veracruz, hotel accommodations on the lively town square and just a walk away from the festival main stage. Beach hotel on the Costa Esmerelda ten steps from the waves, and city center hotel in Xalapa amidst galleries, cafes and the central park. Rooms double occupancy. A limited amount of single rooms available with a supplement of $195.
Six days dedicated to the Afrocaribbean Festival in Veracruz City. Mainstage concerts play from about 8pm to12pm each evening. The neighborhood concerts usually start at 6:30, and there are additional events such as beach and street concerts later in the evening. Most events are free to the public.
Exclusive gatherings with festival performers and groups. There will be three weekend exclusive gatherings of an hour or so between our group and certain festival performers. We will have a chance to ask questions, chat, hear some melodies and rhythms, and perhaps learn some merengue footwork or how to move our hips to cumbia.
Daily salsa lessons for level 1 and level 2 dancers during our six nights in Veracruz. Each of these afternoons we will offer two hours of dance lessons. Students will be split into two groups based on skill and each group will receive 1 hour of instruction with our two teachers. Time allowing, we will also offer lessonhs while staying on the Costa Esmerelda. We have also arranged for an optional Zapateada dance class for a small additional fee while we are in Xalapa.
Four-day field trip to the Costa Esmerelda, El Tajin ruins and Xalapa. See Daily Itinerary for details.
Transport by private, airconditioned bus during field trip: Veracruz-Costa Esmerlda-El Tajin-Xalapa. From Xalapa back to Veracruz travel by 1st class public bus.
Visits and entry to El Tajin and El Lencero Hacienda
Daily breakfast included. For lunch and dinner we provide you with a list of good places to go and then leave you on your own to explore the cuisine. With so many good restaurants in Veracruz and Xalapa we think it would be presumptuous to tell you that you must eat at So and So's with the group. We do provide breakfast to assure that, should you have spent you last peso treating every one at the club to martinis, you don't starve.
Open-structured Travel. This trip is set up with a balanced structure of planned activities and open time. This is not the kind of tour where we all wear nametags and the guide says into a megaphone "and on your left please note the neoclassical architecture of…" We have planned activities where we think our help and knowledge will let you get the most out of this experience. But we also leave plenty of space for you to do what seems best to you. We provide you with information and options so you may choose and explore, and our two bilingual facilitators are always available to help with arrangements, problems, etc.
Resource package including Veracruz and Xalapa city maps, Festival schedule, additional events and activities listings, restaurant and club lists for Veracruz and Xalapa.
Two trip facilitators. Bilingual and knowledgeable, with solid backgrounds in traveling Mexico and in Afrocaribbean music and dance, our trip facilitators put our activities together and lend you a hand where needed.

Tour price does NOT include airfare to/from Veracruz or transport and meals not mentioned above.