Oaxaca 2024: a Trip Leader's Perspective

Our high school has had two very successful trips so far with Arcos, the first to Granada and most recently to Oaxaca. While there is lots to like about the organization - prices, flexibility, efficiency, communication etc. - what really stands out is the personnel they have working on the ground when you arrive. In the case of Oaxaca the site director was a long time local whose knowledge and connections to the area and the people led to some really unique excursions that felt intimate and "off the grid" compared to what the average touring school group might see. We requested a food focus, for example, and did we ever get it: we found ourselves in family kitchens making tamales, grinding cacao beans in a Zapotec village, tossing homemade tortillas onto a hot comal, learning about the Milpa agriculture from food activists, and more.

Similar to our previous experiences, the directors and assistants interact with and care for the students in a way that feels authentic and genuine, and this makes a big difference if you're a small school that can't afford to send lots of extra chaperones on a trip. In a similar vein, the willingness and efficiency with which the directors handle the logistics makes you feel "taken care of" so that you can focus on your students' experience and enjoy the trip *with* them rather than vicariously *through* them.

Another really big perk of this trip that our students report having enjoyed is the structured freedom they are granted to test their language skills and grow their independence in a new environment. In Oaxaca, as in the Granada program, students are expected to learn to transport themselves between language classes and home stays. Granted, in Oaxaca, this experience proved to be a little more challenging given the size of the city and distances between home stays, meeting points, and activities (host families were always willing to help out with rides when logistics, traffic or other factors got in the way). Still, the instances where students were able to self-transport provided them with built-in microopportunities to shop, grab coffee, interact with vendors, and experience the richness of their environments without the looming gaze of adult helicoptering.