CLICK HERE FOR A Sample Of What You Will See While Learning Spanish And Culture In Intibuca

Spanish Language Institute Of Intibuca (SLI)

Fun n" Learning Immersion Tourism Workshop

Spanish and Cross Cultural Experiences

Learn And Have Fun At The Same Time. It's Edutainment,  Music and Song, It's Games, It's Baile Folklorico, Its Honduran Rancheros, It's Cultural Visits, Its Interacting With The Lenca Indians And Other Indigenous People. It Learning Through The Exciting, Unique Novella/Textbook, "The Passions Of Arboleña"

The Honduras Adventure - Intibuca, Gracias & Copan

Enjoy Cultural Adventures, Make New Friends,  Learn Tourism Skills And See The Wonders Of The Lencas and Mayans

Led By Dr. Carol Cross

Fun n" Learning Tourism Program Development

Are you involved in tourism development and want to see how grassroots tourism projects can be developed? Join us on a community based sustainable tour through the State of Intibuca in Honduras for a combination of tourism adventure and tourism training.  You'll be seeing the grassroots development of ecotourism, cultural tourism, horse tourism, agricultural tourism and other tourism projects.  Intibuca is the homeland of the Lenca Indians, the first people to enter Honduras in prehistory.  They maintain much of their ancient culture and you will have the opportunity to share their cultural heritage. The Lenca Indians still maintain the concepts of blessing fields before planting as well as mask dancing, folkloric dancing and local community music groups called conjuntos.  We will share in these activities and learn how they are focusing these cultural activities into tourism projects. 

Learn While Interacting With The People

 This is a hands-on activity which includes visits to communities, small aldeas and you will enjoy this endangered mountain forest habitat.  The Lenca Indians are seeking to develop tourism as an alternative to the cutting of cloud forests and pine forests for export which is causing deforestation in other states of Honduras.

Our organization, the Spanish Language Institute of Intibuca, is also a Honduran Tourism Consulting firm,  works with local communities through volunteer tourism development programs. See http://www.satglobal.com/healing_through_tourism2.htm

This is a grassroots experience with the Lenca Indian people who settled in Honduras several thousands of years ago.  These are the people who fought the Spanish to a standstill but had their leader treacherously killed under a flag of truce.  The Lenca Indian leader Lempira, was the glue that held together an alliance of many Indian tribes.  With his death, the alliance fell apart and the Spanish overran Honduras.

 A.  You will arrive in Tegucigalpa, Honduras at 11:30 AM  and be picked up at the airport.  You will then travel to La Esperanza through several different ecosystems from the hot farmlands of Comayagua, to the mountains of Siguatepeque with another lowland experience in the Valley of Jesus de Otoro.  You immediately begin climbing again to the  mountains of La Esperanza where you will likely experience the Nieblina or clouds on the roads and hillsides. Your first night will be spent in La Esperanza, capital of the state of Intibuca in the Hotel Molino Real, recently built by the Family Argueta/Bourdett. That first night you will experience a "noche cultural" with the folkloric dance group Icelaca and a conjuntos of bands playing local ranchero music.  There will be a display of arts and crafts by Lenca artisans as well. 

B.  The first travel day will find us going to the communidad of San Miguelito to the  community of Cofradia where we are developing a project for the Turismo en El Camino Lenca program.  You will walk down to a waterfall full of butterflies and birds where they hope to develop a tourism picnic center.  The community is already developing a community kitchen with plans for attracting tourists.  On the way we will visit a petrified forest sites that has been over-collected and discuss ways the local people can conserve what is left by creating a reserve or protected status through the community organization.

  In Corfradia the people say that mountain lions  come and drink at the waterfall. of course Honduras is the land of  birds and butterflies everywhere. Wild flowers are everywhere. There are wild blackberries, wild passion fruits. You will see coffee growing, strawberries, peppers and other crops including white potatoes. That night you will sleep in San Juan, a community that is the center of tourism in the region. 

 C.  The next day will be spent in San Juan where you will visit a horse tourism project, go to the Waterfalls of the Elves, ride horses if you wish, and visit a hot springs that is being developed by community members. You will spend time meeting with the developer of the San Juan Tourism Association.  You will sleep in San Juan that night. 

D.   The following  day you will travel to the colonial city of Gracias where you will observe cultural tourism projects. Gracias is a true Spanish colonial town with colonial architecture and churches and many cultural tourism sites.

 E.  The next morning you will travel to Copan where we will see the best tourism development in Honduras.  Copan Ruinas the great pyramids of the Mayan Indians are the source best tourist draw in Honduras.  In Copan will be found many expatriates who have developed businesses.  Copan is also the site of the Conference on Honduras.  There are many things you will see in Copan that need to be developed in other parts of Honduras.  You will learn a lot in Copan about tourism development.  There will also be a chance for you to purchase reproductions of Mayan arts and crafts as well as other craft products from locals.

F.   We will come in a circle back to the La Esperanza area to Yamaranguilla, the center of artisanship in the state of Intibuca.  You'll meet the women of  Manos Ajiles -Women Artisans de Yermaranguila women who work in Pine Straw basketry.  There we will experience a cultural tourism activity by seeing the Guanacosta dancers who dance with masks and act out Lenca legends.  That group is involved in the coming Folkloroic Festival to be held in 22, 22, 23 & 24 of November, 2008 in La Esperanza. You will have an opportunity to browse local artisan products such as pine straw basketry, embroidery, red clay pottery, white clay pottery and others. We will sleep that night in La Esperanza.

G.   The next day we will travel to the community of Pinares where a soccer tourism and flower growing project is being developed.  This is where we hold the SoccerNSpanish program for Spanish language learning combined with a soccer program. We will meet with the members of this community and discuss the problems and constraints they have had in developing their projects.

H.   Finally we will visit a working farm  belonging to Profesora Lupe & Professor Jesus  who grows coffee, blackberries and see the problems locals have in developing tourism. The road to the place requires a four wheel drive during the rainy season. The rest of the time it is accessible by trucks. Here is one of the most beautiful views in Intibuca.  They call the place "Mirador" because you can see so much and so far.

We will discuss his projects, his constraints and his plans.  We will eat there for lunch and enjoy fresh juices, vegetables and fruits.

Optionally if the weather is good enough, we will go to the most beautiful cloud forest in Intibuca, the finca of Doña Norma Mejia. .  It is a relict Bromeliad wilderness. Over 400 years ago the Spanish cut many old Growth pine trees and sweet gums and that forest has grown back.  The exquisite and unique thing about this site is that on many of the cut stumps there are bromeliads that have been growing for centuries.  Some of the have flowers have stems over 4 feet long. There is an ancient pond that is changing into a marsh where you can see succession in a mountain ecosystem. 

You will meet these owners who wants to develop tourism but are constrained by monetary problems..  We will discuss with her some methods of financing such as project financing, adopt a tree,  sale of t-shirts, development of handicraft tourism and the Fair Trade movement. (You will need a sleeping bag as these finca is over 6000 feet).  We will spend the day there  and you will sleep that night in one of these homes on top of the mountain. 

We are likely to see deer, conejos, guatusa.

 During our adventure not only will we learn a lot about developing a tourism cluster, you will experience beautiful waterfalls, pristine pine forests (We call Intibuca the Oregon of Honduras), we will walk on trails in the mountains, see places where no one has ever walked because of the sheer steepness of the mountains.  We will also see farmers farming hillsides so steep you think they must have one leg shorter than the other.  In addition, you will see wildflowers everywhere from wild gladiolus to hills covered will wild impatiens.  You will see bromeliads in pine trees, experience the unique sight of pine trees towering over banana trees, see orchids that have probably never been cataloged.  You will bath in hot springs,  dance with the local folkloric groups, see many of 700+species of birds found in Honduras , eat mouth watering local foods and sleep in the cool temperate mountains.

I.   The final day will be spent in La Esperanza where a one day workshop on Community Tourism Cluster Development will be held.  You will be introduced to tourism planning, developing websites for tourism, business writing, tourism cluster development, use of tourism kits, utilizing online tourism courses, tourism marketing, professional certification, tourism English, tourism mastery learning for providers, internet marketing, volunteer adventures as part of tourism, seeing tourism as a healing function, ecospiritual tourism, handicraft tourism, cultural tourism, agricultural and horse tourism, ecotourism, agroforestry tourism and sports tourism.  You will receive a certificate of completion from the Spanish Language Institute of Intibuca..  You will also receive membership in the Institute.

J.   You will sleep that night at the Hotel Molino Real. The next morning you will leave for Tegucigalpa and catch your airplane for home.

The cost for this 9 day Traveling Sustainable Tourism Workshop Adventure is just $1400 US excluding airfare. Airport pickup is free on Arrival Day.  After or before, the cost is US$90.  (Fly to Tegucigalpa and be met at the airport) This includes 3 nights at the Hotel Molino Real, sleeping quarters at end of each day's travel, private van or truck transports, local guides at each site, village tour, dance performances, 2 meals per day, nights at the farms and hotels.  

Your trip fee directly supports the Spanish Language Institute of Intibuca (SLI) for developing tourism as the sustainable development resources for these Lenca mountain Highlands.  It provides income to each village because we pay for the use of their sites. Each time we bring a group to a village they receive users fees.  This provides income for the village and enables us to work with them as we develop the Turismo en El Camino Lenca. 

The Turismo En El Camino Lenca is a grassroots project to develop tourism projects with each provider building sanitary outdoor toilets in village as well as a shaded rest area.  The SLI approach  is to create Win Win projects as partners with local communities. That means we are providing on site training for providers in sanitation, courtesy, cleanliness and English.  You will come inside the Lenca culture in a way most tourists never experience it and thus you gain insights on how to develop your country’s own tourism projects as interactive experiences for all.

So that both your tourism adventure and your tourism learning experience will be optimal, we are limiting the number of people who may participate each time.  Tours are being offered only once each two months so it is vital you reserve your space. 

Please contact  Dr. Carol Cross at careal@cafrontier.com  for more details and to confirm your entry on your chosen dates. We also offer this Traveling Sustainable Tourism Workshop Adventure to groups..

Daily Workshop/Tour Itinerary

Dates For Traveling Sustainable Tourism Workshop Adventure To Be Held In 2008

Cost of Tour US$1400

What You Need To Bring:

You will need to bring personal items like toothpaste toothbrushes, etc.  In addition, you will need to bring jackets as well as warm clothes such as sweatshirt and sweatpants for colder nights.  A sleeping bag will be a necessity for the night at the Yamaranguilla  farm as it is not furnished.  We will furnish one wool blanket for that night to use with the sleeping bag.

 Includes Room and Board in Honduras.  Does Not Include airfare to and from Honduras.