Welcome to Mexico City, a capital shaped by Indigenous civilization, colonial power, and modern resistance. We begin with a shared lunch at the historic Café Tacuba, where you’ll meet your fellow travelers and hear from a local historian who introduces Mexico’s past and present through the lenses of power, culture, and civic life. 

In the afternoon, we explore Mexican Muralism on a guided walking tour, examining how artists like Diego Rivera used public art as a tool for political expression and collective memory.  

The day concludes with a special dinner at Limosneros, a one-Michelin-star restaurant dedicated to preserving Mexico’s culinary traditions through artisanal ingredients, contemporary techniques, and environmental stewardship, including its Omé garden and seed-rescue efforts. 

Overnight in Mexico City
Accommodation: Hotel Luca

Today we travel to Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where ancient agricultural traditions continue to shape Mexico City’s relationship to food, water, and the environment. By boat, we move through the canals to visit working chinampa farms and learn how this Indigenous system offers enduring lessons in urban sustainability. We spend time with local farmers and enjoy a rustic, multi-course lunch made from freshly harvested ingredients. 

Returning to the city, we gather for happy hour and an intimate conversation with a leader fromPatronato de Arte Contemporáneo - Contemporary Art Patronage (PAC), exploring how independent arts institutions support creative expression and civic dialogue in Mexico. The rest of the evening is free to explore the city at your own pace. 

Overnight in Mexico City
Accommodation: Hotel Luca

We begin the day at the former home of Frida Kahlo, where her deeply personal and politically charged work challenged dominant narratives around gender, identity, disability, and nationhood. Through her art, Kahlo expanded the space for women artists in Mexico, asserting female experience as both a legitimate subject and a powerful political statement.  

We stop for lunch of traditional street tacos. After, we sit down with local artists who use their work to challenge unequal power structures and advocate for Indigenous rights, gender justice, and an end to violence against women. This conversation sets the stage for private visits to Proyectos Monclova, a leading gallery bridging modern masters and contemporary voices, and Pequod Co Gallery, home to some of the most influential artists shaping Mexico’s current cultural landscape. 

In the evening, we gather for dinner at Masala y Maíz, where we learn how the chefs use food—rooted in mestizaje and family histories—as a powerful platform for social, environmental, and labor justice. 

Overnight in Mexico City 
Accommodation: Hotel Luca

Today we travel from Mexico City to Puebla, a city celebrated for its striking colonial architecture, vibrant ceramics, and deeply rooted culinary traditions. Often called the birthplace of mole, Puebla offers a living blend of Indigenous, Spanish, and baroque influences that shape both its streets and its table. 

We begin with an art and architecture tour, exploring Puebla’s historic center which concludes on a terrace overlooking the city’s tiled domes and church towers—a moment to take in the scale and beauty of this UNESCO-listed landscape. We then break for lunch, with recommendations for standout cafés, traditional eateries, and the best streets for browsing local shops and artisan goods. 

In the afternoon, we regroup for a market tour, selecting fresh ingredients for a hands-on cooking class dedicated to Puebla’s most iconic dishes. The day concludes with dinner as we sit down to enjoy the mole we’ve prepared together. 

Overnight in Puebla
Accommodation: Banyan Tree Hotel

We depart Puebla in the morning, traveling through a changing landscape that reveals Mexico’s geographic and ecological diversity. Along the way, we stop at the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden in Zapotitlán Salinas, home to an extraordinary collection of native desert plants and a powerful example of conservation in a fragile environment. We continue to a family-run restaurant for lunch, enjoying regional flavors rooted in local tradition. 

Arriving in Oaxaca, we settle in before meeting with a local historian who introduces the city’s long-standing political and activist traditions, from Indigenous organizing to contemporary social movements. We conclude the day with dinner at Tierra del Sol, sharing a meal overlooking the city center—an inviting setting to reflect on Oaxaca’s history, resilience, and enduring spirit of resistance. 

Overnight in Oaxaca
Accommodation: Hotel Sin Nombre

Today we dive deeply into Oaxaca’s intertwined traditions of food sovereignty and political art. The morning begins with the Xub Maíz collective, where we explore their mission to protect local corn varieties and support small-scale producers through sustainable, community-based organizing. We follow the process of nixtamalization, prepare our own tortillas and tostadas, and share a brunch that highlights the distinct flavors of different native corns, grounding theory in practice.   

From the kitchen, we take to the streets on a walking tour focused on Oaxaca’s political street art, examining how public walls continue to serve as platforms for collective memory and dissent. We break for lunch at Las Quince Letras, where chef Celia Florián—renowned for her research into Indigenous ingredients and regional techniques—offers a masterful expression of Oaxaca’s culinary heritage through mole. 

In the afternoon, we visit Colectivo Subterráneos, a multigenerational collective of Oaxacan artists whose relief prints and murals confront social inequality and amplify working-class and Indigenous perspectives. We learn about their free Art School for the People and how their work is shaped by Oaxaca’s long history of social movements. The day continues with visits to nearby galleries showcasing this powerful artistic tradition, before an open evening to explore Oaxaca at your own pace. 

Overnight in Oaxaca
Accommodation: Hotel Sin Nombre

On our final day, we venture beyond the well-trodden mezcal route to visit small-scale, family-run palenques (distilleries) near Yagul, where mezcal production is inseparable from land, labor, and cultural memory. We witness each step of the process—from agave in the fields to distillation—while learning how these traditions sustain rural livelihoods and affirm Indigenous identity. Our visits highlight multiple perspectives, including producers shaped by migration and return, and a woman distiller carrying forward her father’s legacy in a traditionally male-dominated field, offering a powerful example of resilience and continuity. 

We return to Oaxaca in the afternoon for time to rest or do some last minutes shopping before gathering for our closing dinner at Criollo, an open-air restaurant set within a UNESCO-recognized heritage space. Guided by chefs Enrique Olvera and Luis Arellano, the seasonal tasting menu draws inspiration from Oaxaca’s coast, valleys, mountains, and Isthmus—an elegant close to a journey rooted in place, people, and purpose. 

Overnight in Oaxaca
Accommodation: Hotel Sin Nombre