Hi everyone – Hope you all had a good holiday. I am listing the tours and dates so that you are all filled in. At the present time I do not have prices on every tour, the travel agent is working on getting things set up and as you can imagine, it gets a little difficult with so many upcoming tours. The reason we are doing so many tours is that it is our 20th year doing tours and we are celebrating!
FIRST – October 1 – 8 is our San Miguel de Allende Tour. Remember nonrefundable deposits of $350 must be received by June 1 to reserve your spot. At the present time there are 6 people registered so get your checks in TDQ. The price is $2,600.00 pp/dbl. Sorry, a little higher than normal. We have changed hotels and we are going during the high season.
Nov 13-20, 2019 is the Guadalajara tour. Still working on both itinerary and price. I know where I want to go and what we should see, plus the travel agent has some ideas and Cristina has ideas. We are putting it all together to make a most interesting tour. Some of you know our tours and know that we like interesting and unusual spots to visit.
Nothing in December as everyone is getting ready for Christmas
Nothing in January since everyone is broke from spending at Christmas
February 18-25, 2020 is the Mexico City, Puebla and Cholula tour. Of course, we fly into Mexico City and will then go directly to Puebla and spend several days there in addition to visiting Cholula. We will then drive to Mexico City where we will visit several ruins, Diego Rivera’s home, the national ballet, the Museum of Anthropology, Xochimilco and numerous other high spots.
March 24-31, 2020 is the Oaxaca tour. As we experienced this year, it will be warm. We found the best time to wonder the city is in the evening although you will have a free day to explore and spend! We visit Monte Alban, Mitla, Daizu, have an organ concert on an 18th century organ at a 16th century church, attend a cooking school with a trip to the market, visit the Sunday indigenous market of Tlacolula, visit the potters, weavers and wood carvers, attend the Friday Quelaguetza that has a great buffet and folklorico dances, do a drive through some of the outlying villages and several other good things. Right now, the cost is $2100 pp/dbl, which includes the Quelaguetza.
April 21-28 is the Yucatan tour. We will visit the Flamingo Nesting Reserve, ruins (I am working on trying to get an archaeologist to speak at one of our dinners), Merida and various Maya Villages. We are still working on this so if you want to visit a specific spot let me know!
We will be doing another tour to Chiapas in late fall 2020. This tour will be a bit of an environmental tour with a several-day stay at a coffee plantation and hopefully a day where we can help clean up the Grijalva River. More to come on that later.
And, don’t forget we still do day tours to various spots in Sonora; a 4-day tour for pottery at Mata Ortiz with visits to Paquime and Cueva de la Olla, two great archaeological sites; we are working on getting back to the Cananea mine; the Slaughter Ranch east of Douglas; the U of A Mirror Lab; and anywhere else you would find interesting. Just let me know!
As most of you know, we always donate to the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) wherever we go so be expecting a list of things you can bring on any tour.
Included in all tours is all ground transportation, airfare, hotel w/breakfast, bi-lingual guides, generally all entry fees unless we decide to go somewhere not on the itinerary and usually you decide if you want to go and all taxes. Sometimes there are elective side tours that can be made available and you decide if you want to go. Every trip is a little different!
Remember we take a maximum of 12 people and a minimum of 6. If you want to tour with us, it’s first come first served!
Almost forgot, if you got the AARP Bulletin for April 2019, there is a great article under the Money section about travel insurance. I encourage all of you to get insurance if for no other reason than to protect yourself against suddenly not being able to go on the tour! There are no refunds once you have reserved your spot and are ready to go. Airlines, tour guides and hotels are really strict about that! L.