Dia de Muertos Course
Immerse Yourself in Culture & Cuisine
We combine the best of Oaxaca City and the surrounding countryside to fully participate in the Dia de Muertos experience. In the charming historic center, we take in the tastes and sights to experience contemporary and regional cuisine. We get to know the best street food by going on a night time taco run and stop at our favorite puestos in the market. We visit the Mercado de Abastos and shop at the special Mercado de Muertos where you can stock up on all the Muertos essentials: calaveras (sugar skulls), Pan de Muertos, flowers for the altar, and colorful paper flags adorned with dancing skeletons.
Our mornings are centered on visiting local artisans or cottage industries, such as rug weavers, potters, or cheese makers. One morning, we visit the breathtaking ruins of Monte Alban and another, we tour the Mercado de Abastos.
Also in the plan is a demonstration of the famous Oaxacan quesillo string cheese, and cooking a pre-Hispanic lunch with rug weavers in their home. We pay a visit to the village bakers, (who don't sleep for 4 days as they fill all the orders of Pan de Muertos). In the afternoons we head out to Rancho Aurora for hands-on cooking of many delicious Oaxacan dishes, as well as to build an altar and make mole negro for an unforgettable Day of the Dead feast.
A Non-Stop Fiesta!
The final three days are non-stop fiesta! We are invited to the home of Susana's compadre. He passed on years ago but he lives on, as we party with his spirit and others; listen to great live music, eat tamales, drink mezcal and enjoy! We mingle with the spirits in some of the graveyards of Oaxaca City, and the surrounding villages.
Have your face painted, while the whole city comes alive with skeleton puppets roaming the street and impromptu parades. Glittering sand paintings fill the sidewalks and church bells sound, welcoming the dead and the living.
The party continues when we visit a mountain village and participate in the comparsa and dance with the Muerteros. The brass band wails as we help the women of the village serve the mole coloradito from enormous clay pots, cooked slowly over an open wood fire.
This will be an experience never to forget!
Minimum 8 students, maximum 14
Price per person $ 4,235 USD double occupancy (2024)
October 25 - November 3, 2024, OAXACA
Course Includes:
Hotel accommodations
Most meals
Dining in selected restaurant and street food stalls
Market tours
Visit to Mezcal Producers
Lectures
Face painting
Visits to various graveyards
Cooking classes with Chef Susana Trilling
Altar building class
Cheesemaking class
Grinding Chocolate in the metate
Visits to private homes
Entrance fees to ruins
Transportation while on the tour
Tour does not include: Airfare, transfers to and from first and last hotels, hard alcoholic drinks, laundry and gratuities.