Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Teaching English in Mexico as a Volunteer
Although I have a California teaching credential, and taught finance and English for the
Cross Cultural Institute in San Luís Potosi, I earned a diploma to Teaching English as a Se-
cond Language and then joined Global Volunteers. I spent three months in Mexico, teach-
ing in both Queretaro and Dolores Hidalgo. I went early to enjoy the Cervantino, an inter-
national music-theater-dance festival held annually in Guanajuato. Here are my comments,
thoughts, reflections, opinions and exaggerations from that experience.
From the journal
Mexico is an unfulfilled land of promise, the frustration of hope, the girl with the beautiful
smile and bright eyes who was forced to drop out and help support her family, a nation
that was intellectually renowned on the world stage in the 19th century with the Cientificos,
whose beauty glows in the past colonial splendor, the Porfirio Díaz dominated era and the
School of Muralists.
I signed up to teach English to “the future workers of America,” in central Mexico for the
fall. I started driving from Alameda, California, and I took a long route, going north and east
so I could visit my mother and family before disappearing into the Mexican desert.
The border crossing took close to an hour in a nearly empty building with only two people
ahead of me in line. No one inspected my car or asked for the removal of luggage, which
could add to the hassle. Time just was of no concern.
My first destination was Guanajuato, Mexico, where the annual Cervantino Festival brings
international artists, musicians, dancers, yet mainly Mexican tourists. Hotel Parador San
Javier, a beautiful place, gave me a quiet room with a super-sized bed. Two people could
turn out the lights and never find one another the whole night. Maybe I wasn't alone!
I hoofed it all over Guanajuato's cobblestone streets, through the tunnels, up to the Pipila
monument that overlooks the town, wove my way through the labyrinth of crooked streets
that frequently opened into sunlit patios often festooned with flowers. I wore out my legs,
found a few muscles I had forgotten about. I bought tickets to four events, but the major out-
door show each night at the Alhondiga, was free. To the surprise of everyone in this T-shirt
climate, unseasonable cold weather brought thunder, lightning and showers, which had the
