LANGUAGE STUDY SECTION (Adventure, Ecotourism, Cultural Tourism, and Family Vacationare on down the page.)

Improve your Spanish

The Language Immersion School

• We work your Spanish study schedule around your eco-tourism and adventure activities.
• Available is study as basic as survival Spanish all the way up to advanced Spanish.
• We have CEUs and college credit.
• Our eco and adventure providers are local businesses, and you'll get lots of Spanish practice talking with them.
• Veracruz's location makes it easy for you to visit Xalapa, El tajin, Palenque, Teotihuacan, Puebla, and Oaxaca.

Scuba and Snorkel the Coral Reef

Scubaver

• Dive or Snorkel the Veracruz Coral Reef System. It's a National Park the encompasses 15 major reef structures.
• also available for diving is a sunken navel ship
• get PADI certified in as few as 5 days
• Scubaver is PADI, ASI, ABC and etc.
• Scubaver's full-time staff includes a couple of English speakers, but there's plenty of opportunity to practice Spanish. If you're a beginner at Spanish, you diving lessons, for safety sake, will be in English.

Whitewater Rafting, Rappel, and Tirolesa

Aventuras Sin Limite

• Raft the Rio Antigua with Chevy Rodríguez Téllez, three time member of Mexico's national rafting team, as your guide.
• Rappel cliffs high on the walls of the river canyon
• Zip across the river canyon on the longest zip span in the state of Veracruz
• Walk around the pueblo of Jalcomulco and enjoy visiting with the residents.
• It's a comfortable day trip, but you can also spend the night in the family's hostel.

Horse Back and Mountain Bike

City of Coscomatepec (tourism office)

• ride the mountain side on horseback with a local guide.
• mountain bike the
• tour the town and try your hand in the wood-fired bakery, the saddle shop, and palming tortillas
• these activities are under the auspices of the Economic Development Office of the town government.
• talk with the Director of the Development Office about building local tourism based on cottage industries.

Mountain and Glacier Climbing

Cosco group

• climb the Pico de Orizaba (North America's third highest mountain peak) with the """ family.
• climb the glacier
• the family is part of the mountain safety patrol and has participated in numerous rescues.
• there's a difficulity level for everyone.

Sandboarding, Sand Dune Nature Tour, Kayak Nature Tour, Birding

Dunaventuras

• Nature tour of the ocean-side Sand Dunes environment.
• Kayak and mountain bike nature tours running the river to the ocean's edge.
• Birding along the migration route for raptures.
• Join in with Augustin Lara and his friends who run this small and exciting adventure and ecotourism business out of the family's village grocery store.
• You can even do a little old fashioned fishing while you're there.

Road Cycling, All-Terrain Biking, Races, Organized Rides, Bike Rentals

Eddy's Bikes

• In-town group rides and morning exercise.
• Road racing along the ocean.
• Trail riding in beautiful mountainside and river valley areas throughout the state.
• Regional and national competitions for both Road and ATBs.
• Organized group riding events every weekend
• Bike rentals.

Whitewater Kayak

Aventuras Sin Limite

• Shoot the gentler rapids on the lower Rio Antigua.
• Move to higher rivers for greater challenge and excitement.
• Complete lessons are available for beginners and expert classes are available for the more advanced..
• Equipment is available for rental (without classes), but you're also welcome to bring your own.

Conservation, Nature Tours and Birding

Pronatura

• On the mountain side around Xalapa, this international conservancy group is actively involved in conservation projects and eco-tourism.
• Enjoy birding with their learned full-time staff, and buy your own copy of Robert Straub's Site Guide to the Birds of Veracruz.
• Hike or bike their forest tours.
• Discuss (in English or Spanish) conservation issues here in a country that loves and wants to care for its natural beauty but is limited by terrible economic constraints.

Boating Exploration of the Coral Reef System

Coop of Tourismo

• Tour the Veracruz Coral Reef System guided by a veteran fishing coop which now offer eco-tourism.
• Navigate close-in the way only a fisherman with years and years of experience knows how.
• Explore the conflict of overfishing versus conservation from those living both side the issue.
• Do a little (eco-friendly) fishing yourself while you're out with them.

Beekeeping, Coffee, Pottery, Nature Tours, Waterfalls

Cafaselva

• Visit Chavarrillo, a delightful and traditional village, and enjoy the community and its large common land holding—an ejido. in conservation projects and eco-tourism.
• Take eco-tours through various forest types, birding, camping, and time spent along the river and the the waterfalls.
• Extract, grind, and prepare black clay, and shape traditonal pottery.
• Follow the production of coffee--growing , harvesting, roasting, milling , and then brew your own cup in Cafaselva's own cafe.
• In the community's beehives, enjoy a workshop on beekeeping and honey production.

Lagoon (Wetland) Nature Tours in Motorized Launch, Cabins, Ocean's Edge Nature Trails on Foot, Bike or Burro

EcoGuias La Mancha en Movimiento

• Costal wetlands are abundant in the State of Veracruz, and more and more are being protected by local, grass-roots groups. EcoGuias is one of the most energetic and commited of these groups.
• Tour a large lagoon, which opens immediately into the ocean, by motorized launch and slide through and under the Mangroves.
• Enjoy especially good birding. EcoGuias lies on a principal migratory route.
• Join the several nature tours, on foot, on bike, or by burro.
• Spend the night or several nights in their clean and spacious cabins. Food service is available.

Birding Club in Xalapa, Veracruz

COAX

• COAX is one of the state's premier birding organizations.
• You're invited to join the monthly birding outing.
• You might choose to become a member and support the club as an international member.

Cultural Tourism, Living and Past

Mexico Cultural Tourism

• Escape from tour groups and artifical resorts and truly come to Mexico.
• Take local buses down the backroads and dirt roads and visit little know villages and rural areas.
• Chose your own destinations. Go where you want and only where you want.
• Join in the lives of the regular people of Mexico. Share their holidays, and fiestas, and day-to-day activities.
• Visit ruins and begin to feel the lives of the ancient cultures of Mexico.
• Add in some adventure tourism and ecotourism to make your Mexico experience even fuller.
• Travel with native-Spanish-speaking college-students guides if you don't know Spanish.
• Study survival Spanish in your free time.

Family Mexico Vacation

Various Programs Available, and all are family-friendly, fun, and safe.

• Family vacations are coordinated through the staff at the Language Immersion School, Veracruz, Mexico.
• In order to have fun for everyone in the family, a mix and match of adventure, ecology, and culture works magic.
• For maximum safety we like having your family homebase at the language school's facility.
• Go at your family's own speed. Schedule full days when everyone's rested and ready to go, and take it easy when the family needs a more relaxed (but still fun) day in town.
• If you wish, take along a native-Spanish-speaking, college-student guide who knows plenty of English.
• Anyone in your family who wants to can study survival Spanish in your family's free time.

SOON TO BE AVAILABLE-- Marathon Racing

• Email: info@mexico-ecotourism.org
• Phone number in Veracruz, Mexico: 011.52.229.931.4716
• Phone number in Tucson, Arizona: 520.903.0574
• Mexico Office Address:
      Mexico EcoTourism Organization of Veracruz
      Calle Alacio Pérez #61
             entre Bulevar Avila Camacho y Xicotencatl
      Colonia R. Flores Magón
      Veracruz, Ver, México 91900