Cultural Activities

Arcos includes cultural activities in your study abroad program price! These are typically during the afternoons. Our carefully crafted cultural activities can include cooking classes, dance classes, culinary tours, and museum visits. You will find your confirmed cultural activities in the Program Calendar that you receive one month before your program start date. Below is a list of possible cultural activities for your program:

Welcome Tour & Program Orientation

A chance to explore the historical center and get your bearings ready to make the most out of your stay in Oaxaca. This tour will not only introduce you to some of Oaxaca City’s most important sites such as the zócalo and Santo Domingo, it will also make sure you know where to find WiFi cafes and places to buy school supplies. You will also receive your program orientation to answer all of your questions about academics, health and safety, host families, communication, and activities.

Students at a welcome dinner in Oaxaca, Mexico

Santo Domingo Church & Museum

Visit the most beautiful of Oaxaca’s churches! The church was built between the years of 1570 and 1608 and artisans from all over colonial Mexico were brought to Oaxaca to help in its construction. The inside of the church is a dazzling array of baroque ornamentation and gilded ceilings. Housed next to the church, in what used to be a monastery, is the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures. Here you will find the extraordinary treasures from the tombs of Monte Albán and other archeological sites, such as jewelry, bone, and clay artifacts. Behind the church is the tranquil ethnobotanical garden full of plants endemic to Oaxaca.

Santo Domingo Church in Oaxaca, Mexico

Theater Night

The Teatro Alcalá was built during the reign of Porfirio Díaz. This beautiful theater was designed in a French style and often has concerts and other theatrical events. Constructed in 1903, its marble stairway and five-tier auditorium attracts visitors from around the world. This is a magnificent theater to visit and see a performance.

Teatro Macedonio Alcalá

Traditional Cooking Class (Mexican & Oaxacan)

A great opportunity to take home some of the flavors of Oaxaca to share with friends and family. Oaxaca is famous for its unique dishes. At the top of this list are the moles. There are at least eight basic varieties of mole made in the region. These include: negro (black), amarillo (yellow), coloradito (reddish), almendrado (almonds), verde (green), rojo (red), manchamanteles (tablecloth stainer) and chichilo negro. Some of these moles have more than 20 ingredients! Other typical dishes are tamales with mole, tlayudas, entomatadas and empanadas de mole amarillo.

Students in an indigenous cooking workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico

Yoga Class

We will take you to a Yoga class to awaken your senses to the surroundings and beauty of Oaxaca and take a moment for relaxation and contemplation. For those who enjoy yoga there are many opportunities to practice this ancient ritual during your stay.

Woman stretching in yoga class

Guelaguetza Folk Dance Celebration (July)

Guelaguetza comes from the Zapotec word meaning “offering” and reciprocal giving between people and communities, which is the foundation of traditional Oaxacan society. It was the term used to describe the ceremony and celebration held each year to honor the gods in return for sufficient rain and a bountiful harvest. Today the Guelaguetza celebration takes place every July in and around Oaxaca. Beautifully costumed dancers from the seven regions of Oaxaca State perform elaborate dances handed down from generations past. Before the festivities begin the delegations make colorful processions. One of the most famous dances, the Zapotec Feather Dance, is a passionate and symbolic reenactment of the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Brightly dressed traditional dancers at the Guelaguetza festival

Latin Dance Class (Salsa, Merengue & Cumbia)

Get some exercise and learn some new dance moves! You'll learn the steps to salsa, merengue and cumbia.

Latin dance class

Printmaking Workshop

Mexico has the oldest printmaking tradition in Latin America and today Oaxaca is a mecca for this art form. Learn the woodcut technique where you create an image or design on a wood plate with carving tools and then apply ink to transfer your unique creation to paper.

Movie Night

One of the best cinema clubs is at the beautiful Alcalá Theatre where they have a different film theme each month. Every evening you are sure to find something interesting to watch and expand your horizons. We will plan cinema outings to see films that highlight aspects of the Spanish-speaking world.

Oaxaca Cathedral

Organic Food Market

The market was created as a way for organic producers to sell their products for a fair price and to promote the benefits of organic agriculture. Here you will find strong Oaxacan coffee, local honeys, jams, and many other foods. Something you must try is tejate, the traditional beverage once drunk by Zapotec kings. Not only are there wonderful food items here, but you will also find fine handicrafts.

Oaxacan produce market

San Agustin Etla Art Center & Paper Workshop Visit

Visit CASA an amazing art school and exhibition space housed in a 1883 textile factory which has been lovingly restored with some modern touches. Just next door is a handmade paper workshop founded by the Oaxacan artist Francisco Toledo. You can watch how paper is made from different types of pulp and see how it is turned into notebooks, jewelry, and even shirts!

San Agustin Etla Art Center

Arts & Crafts Workshop (Skull Mask & Mini Shrine Making)

Step into local artist Boris Spider’s wonderful workshop to create your own papier maché skull masks inspired by Mexico’s rich day of the dead traditions and the skeletons that pop up around town throughout the year. Or make a mini shrine inspired by the ‘nichos’ of Mexican folk art.

Day of the Dead shrine

Bike Tour of Oaxaca

Bike fans get together three times a week to promote using bikes and improving the local environment with a local NGO. An opportunity to easily see lots of undiscovered parts of the city.

Colonial building in Oaxaca, Mexico

Art Gallery Tour

Besides the Museum of Contemporary Art there are almost 100 galleries and museums around town. New exhibits open weekly and we will select a few of the best, most interesting, and varied to expose you to this rich cultural side of Oaxaca.

Art gallery in Oaxaca, Mexico

Museum Visits

Oaxaca City's wide array of museums have fascinating fixed and temporary exhibitions to discover more about Mexico’s rich traditions and history. Museum visits could include anything from textiles and stamps to pre-Hispanic art.

Museum in Oaxaca, Mexico

Arts & Crafts Workshop (Alebrije Art Craft Painting)

They were first created in Mexico City by Pedro Linares in the 1940s, after suffering from a bout of high fever spells, he began carving and painting fantasy creatures and the results were his famous Alebrijes. You will visit Eco-Alebrijes, a non-profit based out of the town of Arrazola, which is one of the largest producers of this beautiful work of art. Eco-Alebrijes' goal is to create sustainable forests that will secure their livelihood as artisans of this rare craft in the future. The organization created a protected forest of Copalillo trees which has been divided into twelve sectors (it takes 12 years before the tree can be harvested to produce Alebrijes). Not only will you see how these wonderful works of art are created, but you will also have the opportunity to paint your very own alebrije. This is a hands-on experience into the fantasy world of the Alebrijes.

Alebrije painting workshop

Arts & Crafts Workshop (Graffiti & Stencil Making)

You will have an opportunity to learn about the street art movement in Oaxaca and particularly about the use of stencils to take messages to the streets in a unique way. You will make your own stencil and a T-shirt that will always remind you of your time in Oaxaca.

Stencil workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico

Farewell Dinner

The end of this life changing experience will be marked by a farewell event bringing together all of the students to celebrate and say their goodbyes.

Group dinner in Oaxaca, Mexico