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Electronic Course Reserve and Program Materials
The materials below are exclusively for OSEA Program Participants. Documents are in MS Word or PDF designed for download. All rights are reserved and all other use requires the written consent of OSEA
Scheduling Your Arrival and Departure Dates and Times
US Passports, Mexican Visas and US Consulate Office Getting to OSEA and Getting To Pisté
Program Break, Weekends, Field Trips Travel Information for Cancun, Mérida and Pisté Airlines, Airports and Arrival/Departure Cities
Student Travel Organizations / Student Travel Discounts
Scheduling Arrival and Departure Dates and Times
All OSEA programs have a 1pm with an initial on-site orientation meeting at the OSEA Research Center. Unless otherwise specified programs start on Sunday of the year in question. The 1pm start date requires international travel the day before program start date in order to ensure your ability to arrive in Pisté by 1pm.
Participants typically select Cancun as the arrival airport or in the case of participants who are flying in from East Coast, the Midwest, or the South. Participants traveling from Texas, the West coast, or the Rockies Mountain Zone may find Mérida to be cheaper and easier. All First Class buses for Pisté and Chichén Itzá arrive in the mornings. We strongly urge you to travel by FIRST class ADO bus to Pisté from Cancun, Mérida, Tulum or Playa del Carmen. ADO 1st Class Buses from these locations only leave in the morning with variable hours between 8am and 9:30 am. Travel from Valladolid is a special case and can be by First or Second Class Bus or from Pisté Taxi Shuttle (see bus information).
The OSEA programs end at noon on Saturday.
Do not schedule a departure from Pisté earlier than noon on the Saturday end date of the program. You will therefore not be able to schedule a flight from Mérida airport earlier than 3pm on that day or from Cancun airport earlier than 4pm.
In order to schedule your international flight, you will need to determine the ideal times and dates of international arrival and departure via Cancun or Mérida based on your means of ground travel to Pisté (from Cancun and Mérida airports). We encourage participants to join with other participants via Facebook, email and telephone in order to arrange for meeting up in the airport arrival city and traveling together to Pisté. Participants are responsible for arranging their travel and managing their itinerary so as to arrive and depart according to the above specifications. Traveling to Pisté is easy and traveler friendly.
There are over 1 million tourists a year who travel to Chichen Itza. It is easy, convenient and safe, even for inexperienced travelers. Feel free to contact OSEA staff for suggestions, questions, and help. OSEA requires all participants to submit their travel plans to us prior to departure as well as contact information, emergency contacts, so that we may keep track of your scheduled arrival and departure from México.
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Passports, Visas, and the US Consulate in Mérida
You do not need a Student Visa to participate in OSEA or to enter México. Do not try to get one as this is only good for foreign students enrolled in a Mexican institution. OSEA is not a Mexican university. You only need a Mexican tourist visa that is available upon arrival at the Mexican border at which you enter the country.
US Government Passport Requirements
You must have a passport to enter and leave USA. In other words, when traveling to México you are required to use a US passport -- not to get into Mexico but to get back into the USA from Mexico! Go to the State Dept. Passport Services to apply for a new passport or process a renewal.
To review the US State Dept official information on travel requirements for México please visit their website. http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports.html
You can also access this page through the travel information section of the osea website at http://www.osea-cite.org/resources/re_travelinfo_visas.php
Information on the time to process regular and expedited passports is available via the US State Department. Typical Processing Times for passports are:
| Routine |
4-6 Weeks |
| Expedited |
3 Weeks |
| Expedited at Agency |
8 Business Days |
México Tourist Visa
México requires a visa. The Tourist Visa is issued at port of entry and can be issued for one month to three months. They are renewable for a total of 6 months. If you wish, you can get a Mexican visa prior to travel from a Mexican consulate office or embassy. you may go to the office and request a tourist visa of an extended 6 months at a minimal charge.
When you enter Mexico upon arrival in or when crossing the border into Mexico you will receive and fill out a Mexican Visa Form and Customs Declaration Form. When you hand this over to the Mexican Migration Officer, always request 90 days. If you are given fewer number of days than your trip, you will need to pay a service fee at the Migration Office to have your visa extended. Besides the fee (approx. $25) this is a hassle: It is requires trips back and forth from the migration office to a bank that consumes all of one day; if not initiated early in the morning one could easily lose two days and an overnight in Mérida to complete the process.
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US Consulate in Mérida, Yucatán
Calle 60 no. 338-K x 29 y 31, Col. Alcala Martin, Mérida,
Yucatán, México 97050
Telephone (52)(999) 942-5700 or 202-250-3711 (U.S.).
http://merida.usconsulate.gov/
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Getting to OSEA and Getting To Pisté
All OSEA participants assume the responsibility to arrange their travel so as to arrive at OSEA at the orientation start time. Unless otherwise specified, 1pm Sunday is the start time and day. All osea participants must also take it upon themselves to thorough study the information on the OSEA Travel Information pages regarding how to find the correct bus to Pisté and how to locate OSEA once you arrive in Pisté. The OSEA website has several pages on which are embedded links to Google Maps where you can find OSEA in Pisté
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Program Break, Weekends & Excursions The Seven Week Ethnography Field School includes a four day break in the middle of field summer field season; this varies each year but coincides with the end of the 3rd week and the first days of week four.
Six week and shorter programs do not have a scheduled program break but are continuous Sunday through Saturday.
Weekends are used by participants to do research for their projects, homework and participate in activities with homestay families. and develop friendship with community members. OSEA encourages participants to remain in Pisté during weekends. Typically, homestay families or community member friends can invite osea participants to travel to Mérida, Valladolid or other regional locations. On all occasions the osea staff must be informed. When such travel interferes with osea classroom activities, student research projects or are otherwise deemed inappropriate due to safety issues, then permission for such travel is not be provided. The expense associated with these trips are the responsibility of the participant.
Participants should restrict more extensive and overnight travel in the region to times either prior to or following the osea program dates. We encourage participants to make arrangements with other participants to save on expenses as all such costs are out of pocket. We encourage you to engage past participants via Facebook to discussion options, their experience and recommendations.
OSEA excursions occur during the weekends and weekdays. These may include half day trips to various sites within the greater Pisté – Chichén region or further afield such as Mérida or the coast. Excursions include archaeological sites of Chichén Itzá and cenotes – eco-tourism attractions-- such as Dzitnup, Ek Balam, and Yokdzonot. We also visit nearby villages to gain experience of other types of village life than the rural cosmopolitan Pisté.
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Travel Information about Cancun, Mérida, Pisté
The osea website has extensive and detailed information about Cancun and Mérida. osea has specific recommendations for hotels, restaurants, things to do, traveling to and from these places, as well as suggestions on tour guide books and online travel information sources.
Click on the left nav bar for Cancun and Merida Travel Information that has been especially selected for osea participants.
Please review the General osea Travel Iinformation at http://www.osea-cite.org/resources/travelinfo.php
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Airlines, Airports, Arrival Cities
First, Check flights on airline consolidators and compare with airline prices. We recommend that you use Kayak.com to check for the flight schedule and prices you desire. However, when you use an online travel company and feel you have a good quote with the desired flight times, it is imperative to check pricing against the fare listed directly from the airline on their website. Today go and check the prices on Kayak.com and set up a weekly price notification of price changes more than $25 for the dates that you want.
Second, check the fares to see if the taxes are or not included. Typically the really great fares often do not include taxes. If the flight does not include taxes you can estimate anywhere from $80 to $120 for airport taxes in/out of México.
Third, Check the airline baggage rules to make sure you understand the hidden fees. It could very well be that free baggage is completely eliminated for international travel. Keep your eyes open!
Fourth. Buy your ticket direct from the airline. If you need to make any changes to your flight it is vastly easy to do so directly with the airline rather than through Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz Or Travelocity. We strongly recommend that you do not buy airline tickets from these companies. In emergency situations where you are in the airport at the counter trying to re-schedule a ticket the airline company will not change your flight unless you do so through the online consolidator. You do not want to be calling CheapFlights from your cell phone sitting in the Cancun airport because your flight was cancelled, you missed your flight, or other reason.
Fifth. Arrival airport is either Cancun CUN or Mérida MID. Cancun is the preferred airport for most participants traveling from the Midwest or the East Coast. MID is a good option for participants traveling from the West Coast and Mountain Time zone.
Student Travel Organizations / Student Travel Discounts
Student oriented travel organizations offer extensive services to student travelers, study abroad students, and even faculty travelers. However the majority of discounts are geared toward Europe and to a lesser degree Asia. These services grow out of the long historical tendency to travel as a student during gap year in Europe. It is the legacy of the Grand Tour and Thomas Cook! These student discount travel services cannot offer much savings or services for Latin America, Asia or Africa since these locations tend to accommodate budget travelers very easily. Family run hotels called posadas in Latin America are cheaper than many European or USA youth hostels. Even the student discount prices for flights are not typically a bargain for Latin America generally, but especially for travel to México due to the high volume of US tourists to México and Cancun. In fact every time the Director priced out group rates for OSEA with “student travel” agencies the prices were a $100 to $200 more than normal travel rates!
Nonetheless: There are two ways student travel organizations can help. One, if you do buy a ticket via a student travel organization then you often have included decent travel insurance for medical emergencies. Even if you do not buy a ticket through these agencies you can get decent medical insurance at a separate price (see above). Two, your student travel identification can provide some occasional and minor discounts in terms of entrance fees, lodging, international phone rates or services, internet, and the like. Again, México’s special relationship with the USA is such that these are minimal savings.
It seems that the major substantial benefit for paying for an international student card membership is for the travel insurance. The other benefits of hotel, food, and entrance fee discounts often simply do not exist. But this may vary for countries other than México.
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Student Travel Organizations / Student Travel Discounts
Student oriented travel organizations offer extensive services to student travelers, study abroad students, and even faculty travelers. However the majority of discounts are geared toward Europe and to a lesser degree Asia. These services grow out of the long historical tendency to travel as a student during gap year in Europe. It is the legacy of the Grand Tour and Thomas Cook! These student discount travel services cannot offer much savings or services for Latin America, Asia or Africa since these locations tend to accommodate budget travelers very easily. Family run hotels called posadas in Latin America are cheaper than many European or USA youth hostels. Even the student discount prices for flights are not typically a bargain for Latin America generally, but especially for travel to México due to the high volume of US tourists to México and Cancun. In fact every time the Director priced out group rates for OSEA with “student travel” agencies the prices were a $100 to $200 more than normal travel rates!
Nonetheless: There are two ways student travel organizations can help. One, if you do buy a ticket via a student travel organization then you often have included decent travel insurance for medical emergencies. Even if you do not buy a ticket through these agencies you can get decent medical insurance at a separate price (see above). Two, your student travel identification can provide some occasional and minor discounts in terms of entrance fees, lodging, international phone rates or services, internet, and the like. Again, México’s special relationship with the USA is such that these are minimal savings.
It seems that the major substantial benefit for paying for an international student card membership is for the travel insurance. The other benefits of hotel, food, and entrance fee discounts often simply do not exist. But this may vary for countries other than México.
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