Susie Albin-Najera recently wrote an excellent article titled “A Transformational Journey Through Mexico: Experiencing The Trip of a Lifetime,” which has been published on The Mexico Report.
The article takes a look at the history of Journey Mexico and also includes an interview with JM Founder and President Zachary Rabinor.
A big thanks to Susie from all of us at Journey Mexico for doing such a great job on the piece!
The Riviera Maya Jazz Festival celebrates it’s 8th season this November after drawing more than 50,000 visitors last year. In preparation for this year’s Jazz Festival, the Riviera Maya is offering a special preview event on September 4th in Tulum. The free concert includes internationally famed artists Eddie Palmieri, India, and Araya – Orta Latin Jazz Quartet. To plan a trip to for this event, be sure to contact one of our expert planners today!
This year’s Riviera Maya Jazz Festival will be held from November 25th-28th. More information about the event and artists, visit The Riviera Maya Jazz Festival 2010.
Photo via Jason deCaires Taylor
Artist and environmentalist, Jason deCaires Taylor, has entered the final stages of an incredible project designed to alleviate pressure on the natural reefs of Cancun, Mexico by attracting both marine wildlife and human tourists to a currently barren area of sea-floor, which will soon become a natural reef of cement sculptures.
In early 2011, over 400 sculptures made from a special cement neutral in PH and made to foster coral growth will be lowered into the shallow waters off the coast of Cancun. A handful of test sculptures have already been submerged and have shown incredible rates of growth from colorful algae, coral, and other marine-life.
Below is a video interview from Travel + Life Magazine with Taylor about the project. For more information about the underwater sculpture park, visit Jason deCaires Taylor’s website and the Wandering Educators site. You can also find another video here.
Conde Nast Traveler Magazine has chosen Journey Mexico president, Zachary Rabinor, as one of the World’s Top 135 Travel Specialists for 2010. Zach’s segment of this prestigious list can be found on page 115 of Conde Nast Traveler‘s August 2010 Issue, which began hitting news stands last Friday.
Conde Nast’s World’s Top Traveler Specialists list is run by award-winning, world travel expert and “The greatest consumer advocate a traveler could ever have,” Wendy Perrin, the Consumer News Editor for Conde Nast Traveler. Wendy also runs an excellent travel resource at www.cntraveler.com, keeps an informative and fun blog called the Perrin Post, and dominates on Twitter with over 12,000 followers. According to the article, Wendy hand picked this year’s 135 Travel Specialists from more than 10,000 applicants, making it more difficult to be included than getting accepted to Harvard!
Zach and Journey Mexico have also been included as a Destination Specialist in Truth.Travel‘s “Find Your Perfect Travel Agent” search feature. At Truth.Travel, you can read Zach’s profile, search for user comments, and read more about how Conde Nast Travel Specialists are chosen.
Be sure to pick up the August issue of Conde Nast Traveler today!
Journey Mexico is excited about the release of the tourism board’s newest television ad promoting Mexico Vacations to Baja California and Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
To create a trip to Mexico to experience the activities and visit the places in this video, contact one of our expert trip planners today!
*Update 7/21/10 – This TV ad is a part of Mexico’s Minister of Tourism’s new ad campaign designed to reach 50% of North Americans. More information about this new campaign can be found at Travel Weekly.
Photo - Ray Demski / Red Bull
Yucatan, Mexico was the site of the second stop on Red Bull’s 2010 Cliff Diving World Series. If you haven’t seen or heard anything about this Red Bull Series, check it out at their website. Red Bull has definitely succeeded in making the sport of high diving more exciting by adding exotic locations. The event in Yucatan was held at the Ik Kil Cenote, which is often visited on Journey Mexico trips to the Yucatan.
Cenotes are natural wells that are exposed after surface limestone above the wells collapse. These natural pools are prevalent in the Yucatan Peninsula and some other regions of Central America. Some ancient Mayan cultures used cenotes as part of sacrificial rituals. Today, cenotes offer picturesque locations to cool off, go for a swim, or have lunch while vacationing in Mexico. Below is a video from the Red Bull Cliff Diving event at the Ik Kil cenote in Yucatan.
Mexico took two spots on Travel & Leisure‘s 2010 World’s Best Cities List, tying Italy for most cities on the list. Mexico’s San Miguel de Allende in the Colonial Heartland was named the World’s 4th best city of 2010, and Oaxaca finished shortly after on the list as the 8th best city in the world. This year’s World’s Best Cities List will (I believe) be printed in the September issue of Travel & Leisure.
La Parroquia
San Miguel de Allende – With its small town charm, breathtaking architecture, and lively culture, it’s no wonder San Miguel de Allende was awarded the fourth spot on this year’s World’s Best Cities list (and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site). One glance at the city’s Parish Church, La Parroquia, and it’s no question that San Miguel de Allende is a must stop on any cultural vacation in Mexico. Check out this video of guests on a Journey Mexico vacation walking the streets of San Miguel with a band of local musicians.
Oaxaca – This laid back metropolitan city also retains a small town charm with its tiny streets and rows of colonial buildings. With its thriving art scene, lively nightlife, and world-class restaurants, Oaxaca most certainly deserves the title of the World’s 8th Best City of 2010.
As the world has begun to open its eyes to the wealth of opportunity for cultural travel experiences in Mexico, Journey Mexico has been hand crafting custom itineraries designed to provide unforgettable trips to both San Miguel Allende and Oaxaca for years. To take advantage of our expertise and build the trip of a lifetime, contact our expert planners today!
(AP Photo/Miguel Tovar)
Heralded as the authority on Mexican Cuisine, Diana Kennedy is set to release her second Mexican cookbook Oaxaca al Gusto this Fall. This new cookbook comes four decades after her first release, The Cuisines of Mexico, which has become an essential in the library of any international chef worth their salt. Oaxaca al Gusto focuses on the traditional cuisines of the different cultures within the state of Oaxaca, an area known for its savory dishes.
Diana Kennedy, now 87, is quite the character: smart, tough, funny, and one hell of a cook. But in addition to being personally distinct, she is also highly decorated. She has received the equivalent of knighthood in Mexico with the Congressional Order Of The Aztec Eagle award and has also been honored by the UK a Member of the British Empire award for furthering cultural relations with Mexico. A wonderful portrait of Diana Kennedy can be found in Martha Mendoza’s article at the Associated Press.
I just came across this organization of Dentists in Lonely Plane’ts Mexico Travel Forum, and they seem to be doing some great things in the Copper Canyon region of Mexico. The organization consists of a group of Dentists who voluntarily dedicate their time to improving the oral health of the community members local to the Copper Canyon. The focuses on cleaning, removing infected teeth from those in pain, and educating community members on how to care for their teeth.
The volunteer group has posted the following in the Lonely Planet forum:
“Here are the dates for upcoming dental missions to the Copper Canyon. We need translators, dental personnel and general helper outers. There is a small fund to help out a bit with expenses for an experienced dental assistant.
September 29 to October 11
November 3 to the 15th
February 2 to the 14th
March 2 to the 14th
The cost not including transportation to Tucson should be about 800 dollars. For more info go to www.dentalvolunteermissions.com”
Hiking trips to the Copper Canyon have been a prominent aspect of Journey Mexico services since its inception, and interacting with local community members is a big part of what makes these hiking trips so special. We are always pleased to see people offering to help the members of the Copper Canyon community and if you know of anyone with dental expertise who may be interesting in doing some voluntourism, please forward them this post.
Today marks Frida Kahlo’s would-be 103rd birthday. Commonly regarded as one of Mexico’s (and the world’s) finest artists, Frida’s works are celebrated as emblematic of the national tradition of Mexico. In homage, Google has dedicated today’s homepage “doodle” of Google.mx to Frida.
Journey Mexico proudly features the Frida Kahlo Museum as a staple of our cultural trips to Mexico City. The famous “Little Blue House,” the site of the museum, was the birthplace of Frida Kahlo as well as her place of residence with famous artist Diego Rivera from 1929 until her death.
Journey Mexico is also a proud supporter of the Museum and Studio of Diego Rivera in San Angel, another staple in many of our trips to Mexico City. Journey Mexico was honored to be chosen to manage much of the 2010 Virtuoso Symposium, including several half-day cultural/culinary experiences in Mexico City, one of which was a visit to the Museum and Studio of Deigo Rivera for lunch and a private presentation. This was the first time such an event has ever been held at the location. During this lunch, Journey Mexico donated several computers and monitors so that the museum could showcase historical footage and works of Diego Rivera.
July 30th to August 15th marks the 32nd annual Chamber Music Festival in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico’s Colonial Heartland. The festival of San Miguel, the largest chamber music festival in Mexico, draws lovers of fine music from around the world each year.
During the event, music can be heard pouring out of the churches, the theaters, and the town’s square.This year’s concert schedule can be found at the San Miguel Chamber Music Festival’s website. To build a trip around the event, contact our expert planners.
Below, you’ll find a video of the Amernet Sting Quartet performing at last year’s event.
At the heart of the festival is San Miguel’s Chamber Music Student Program. Below, you’ll find a video of the festival’s director speaking about the event.
We just uploaded a new video on our Experiences: Music page. The video was filmed on a recent trip to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico’s Colonial Heartland.
In the video, you’ll see Journey Mexico trip members walking the streets with a band of local musicians called Trobadores as they play traditional Mexican songs. Singing and playing as they stroll the streets, Trovadores are common to the area of San Miguel de Allende.
At the end of the video, you’ll see trip members climbing to the rooftop terrace of their hotel to enjoy an incredible view of San Miguel’s extraordinary parish church, famous for its neo-Gothic design.
We just uploaded this new video on our Experiences – Architecture page. In the video, you’ll see a Journey Mexico guide illuminating a recent trip to the Juarez Theater in Guanajuato, part of Mexico’s Colonial Heartland.
Exhibiting a variety of architectural styles, the Juarez Theater is one of the most beautiful theaters in Mexico.
In the past week, two major airlines, Frontier and Virgin America, have expanded their flight inventory to include more flights to Mexico.
Frontier Airlines has added two new, non-stop routes from Denver and Kansas City. Frontier will fly from Denver to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo from January 15th through March 26th, 2011. Flights from Kansas City to Los Cabos are scheduled from December 18th through April 16, 2011.
Frontier also reports that they are expanding the dates of their seasonal, Saturday only service from Indianapolis to Cancun to run from November 6th to April 30th, 2011.
Virgin America spokesman, Richard Branson, has announced that Virgin plans to be offering flights to Mexico before the year’s end. As it stands, Virgin will be running three flights: San Francisco to San Jose del Cabo, San Francisco to Cancun, and Los Angeles to Cancun.
*UPDATE – On June 9th, 2010, Continental Airlines began a twice-weekly (Wed and Sat) flight from Bush InterContinental in Houston to Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico. The addition of this flight makes 30 Mexican destinations that Continental serves, making it the leader in US flights to Mexico.
*UPDATE – On November 20th, Alaska Airlines plans to begin weekly, non-stop flights between San Jose, California and Los Cabos, Mexico.
2010 marks the 44th edition of The Smithsonian Festival in Washington D.C., and Mexico is one of the this year’s three featured programs. Since 1967, the festival has been drawing participants and visitors from all over the United States and from 80 nations around the world. This event, a museum without walls, and has come to be known as the world’s “Largest cultural conversation.” Although the first part of the festival has just concluded, the second part begins on July 1st and runs through the 5th.
As a reflection of the vast diversity of Mexico’s people, its land, and its culture, the Mexico program consists of four themes: The Plaza, The Market, The Workshop, and The Field. Participants of the event “will engage visitors in ceremonial and social dances, satirical processions, traditional and rock music, foodways, crafts, vernacular architecture, healing traditions, farming and fishing techniques, tequila and mezcal production, and demonstrate the knowledge and creativity that has sustained their communities and helped to shape contemporary Mexico.”
More information, including photographs and videos, about this year’s festival can be found at the Smithsonian’s website.
Journey Mexico President, Zachary Rabinor, will be visiting Washington D.C. just after the festival and will be available on July 12th and 13th to meet and talk about the highlights of the Mexico program as well as about the incredible travel opportunities that the country of Mexico has to offer. If you will be in D.C. after the event and would like to meet with Zach, please leave us a message on our Facebook Page with your availability!
As demand for our newsletter continues to grow, we will now be publishing on a monthly basis. To the left is a snapshot of this month’s addition, but you can view the newsletter in its entirety here.
To subscribe to our newsletter, simply visit the newsletter, scroll the bottom, enter your name and email address in the required fields, and click submit.
We look forward to bringing you the latest news about Journey Mexico and Travel in our beautiful country!
Check out this new video of an artisan in Guanajuato making a clay pot in a local workshop. The video was taken on a recent trip to Mexico’s Colonial Heartland and is now posted on our Handicrafts Experience Page.
Starting in November of 2010, British Airways will be offering two direct, weekly flights from London Gatwick to Cancun, Mexico. The flights will be via a Boeing 777 with the choice of three cabin types, including British Airways’ Club World Business class, where passengers can relax on fully reclined, flat beds.
The addition of Cancun to Gadwick’s list of direct flights makes it easier than ever for England’s cultural and luxury travel enthusiasts to take advantage of the vast number of historical and UNESCO World Heritage sites that Mexico has to offer. The first flights will come just after the Bicentennial of Mexico’s Independence Day, but the celebrations will, no doubt, carry on through the end of the year, making the end 2010 an incredible time to travel to Mexico.
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