Christmas and New Year in Mexico

If you've never spent Christmas or New Year somewhere exotic, away from home, then Mexico is a great choice. It's got its own traditions as well as all of the warmth you'd find back home...

IH Riviera Maya is open for Spanish courses all over the festive season and our Christmas social programme is a special home.

These are just some of the highlights...

 

Week 17-23 December

• Monday Walking tour around Playa Get to know all the important public places in Playa as well as our "local" favorite places for lunch or dinner. ¡¡Empiezan las posadas, prepárate!!
• Tuesday Salsa lesson You've come to Mexico to learn some Spanish but there's no reason why you can't let your hair down too. In this afternoon's activity --"Aprende a bailar al estilo caribeño" -- we'll be doing some Caribbean dance
• Wednesday Mexican Christmas traditions If you don't know the difference between your 'pastorelas' and your 'posadas', we will be teaching you. Come along, it's fun! We'll also be rehearsing for our typical play for the season, 'La pastorela de IHRM'…
• Thursday Piñatas No Christmas would be Christmas to any Mexican kid without a 'piñata' (see images, right). Our workshop this afternoon will be having you make your own. This year the piñatas our students make will be filled up with candy and will be donated to the poor communities in the region! Hands on!
• Friday Ensalada navideña Our Mexican cookery classes are very popular and this lunchtime we'll be showing you how to make a typical 'Christmas salad'.

Week 24-30 December

• Monday Tour of the town Join us on our walk round Playa to get to know the place (and our favourite bars and restaurants!)
• Tuesday Christmas Day is a public holiday in Mexico and the school will be closed
• Wednesday Salsa lessons Part II... The chance to practice what you have already learnt
• Thursday Mexican New Year traditions We will be showing you some of the fun things that make a Mexican New Year in some ways the same, in many others different... what to waer, what to eat, what to say at midnight, etc!
• Friday New Year Ponche Start to celebrate the New Year with us with a glass of Fruit Ponche: 'Feliz año nuevo'!

Week 30 December-6 January

• Monday Tour of Playa For those of you starting your Spanish course this week, we take a walk round town and point you in all the right directions!
• Tuesday New Year's Day is a public holiday in Mexico and the school will be closed
• Wednesday Caribbean dance If you've been with us for three weeks (and lots of people stay for a long time!), here's another chance to get into the rhythm!
• Thursday Ensalada de nopal If Christmas left you with a couple of extra kilos, this week's cookery class shows you how to make a light, healthy salad!
• Friday La carta a los Reyes Magos Time for writing your wish list to the Three Wise Men. If you want any presents, come and practice your writing skills in this fun workshop. The wish lists are sent to Los Reyes Magos in a very special way… don't miss it!

Week 7-13 January

• Monday Celebrate with us! January 6th is "Día de Reyes" throughout the Spanish-speaking world, traditionally the day when presents are exchanged (rather than December 25th). Typical of Día de Reyes is also the 'rosca de reyes' cake: if you get the bit with the Baby Jesus figure in it, Mexican tradition has it that you make tamales for everyone on February 2nd. (Don't worry, we can show you how in one of our Mexican cooking workshops!)
• Tuesday Walking tour around Playa get to know all the important public places in Playa as well as our "local" favourite places for lunch or dinner
• Thursday Salsa class By now you've learnt lots of Spanish! But can you really dance...?!
• Friday Cookery class Come along -- we've got a "surprise" dish for our first Mexican cooking class of the New Year!
  

And there's lots more too...!

NB Note that the social programme is occasionally subject to last minute changes.