1.Fill out registration form with the information about your arrival you have, if you do not have an arrival date yet no worries, this can be arranged at a later date.

2. Go to Fees, Add registration fee and the kind of stay (private home stay or Volunteer Inn), amount of time you are looking to stay, and your desired placement, then check out.

3. You are good to go! We will reach out to you to confirm your information!

Mexico is not requiring a covid test, proof of vaccination, or time spent in isolation to enter the country. Depending on what country you live in they might require a negative covid test to re-enter, please check with your local guide lines.

If you are a citizen of the United States, over 18, all you have to take along with you to Mexico is a valid passport and you will get a tourist card from the Mexican authorities at the port of entry or the airline.

United States Citizens under the age of 18 are required to carry a notarized permit from parent(s) or legal guardian(s). This permit will allow them to travel to Mexico, either alone or in the company of others. The letter can be worded as follows:

To whom in may concern:

I/We (name(s) of parent(s)), give permission to (name of child), to travel to and from Mexico. He/she will be travelling with (name of person) or alone. The purpose of his/her travel is to tour Yucatan and study Spanish. He/She will be staying with a local host family.

For more information about traveling to Mexico, please visit your countries Department of Transportation

Medical care in Mexico is good and affordable.

However, all students must carry their own insurance.

Normally, medical care is provided on a reimbursement basis.

Students will need to carry with them a major credit card and/or bank card to pay for any services at the time they are rendered.

The student will submit the bill to their personal insurance carrier for reimbursement.

We strongly urge you to contact your insurance carrier and a travel agent for more information about coverage while abroad.

Furthermore, your insurance carrier may provide a special telephone number to contact them from Mexico.

There is no better way to learn a language than through immersion. While our goal for you is that you gain fluency in the Spanish language and expand your understanding and appreciation for the Mexican culture, you have to determine your goals for yourself. We sincerely hope that your goals match ours. We would like you to take your courses at our Institute seriously and put your whole heart into learning. If you consistently and earnestly attempt to learn and understand, you will be amazed with the advances you make in your ability to communicate in Spanish and with the friends you make when you show genuine interest and enthusiasm in the Mexicans you meet. The following are some suggestion to help you learn Spanish with greater ease and obtain longer retention of what you learn after your trip:

1) Talk to your Mexican host family. Ask them questions about their daily lives. What type of employment are they in? What are their interests and hobbies? If invited, accompany them to the grocery store or on other errands. Ask questions during these trips. If the family has children, ask to see what they worked on in school. Don't be the first to leave the lunch table, stay and converse for a while. Be involved with the family on a daily basis.

2) Listen to the radio and watch television. This will help you to improve your listening comprehension. Most Mexican host families will watch soap operas in the evenings and some will watch talk show type shows in the afternoon. Pay attention even to the commercials. See if you can guess what is being advertised on the television without looking at the screen. If you do not have access to a radio, ask your host family if they can lend one to you. Listen to it while you get ready in the mornings.

3) Try and attend movies which are spoken in Spanish. While Mexican/Latin American made movies are relatively infrequent compared to U.S. made movies, if you keep an eye on the movie announcements in the newspaper, you will find one. Also, children's movies made in the U.S. are often dubbed in Spanish. If you are unable to attend a movie spoken in Spanish, avoid simply listening to the English of an un-dubbed U.S. movie. Read the Spanish subtitles, too. Many language learners find this to be a valuable exercise.

4) Once or twice a week buy a newspaper, magazine or comic book. This will help you to improve your vocabulary and reading fluency. Also, if your host family has small children, offer to read to them in the evenings. If they do not have small children, spend sometime each day reading aloud in your room. Although it is tempting, do not read anything in English. If you want to read a book for pleasure, ask your teacher to recommend one written in Spanish that is at your level.

5) SPEAK SPANISH! Don't spend your valuable days in Mérida with students who always speak English and never attempt to speak Spanish. Speak Spanish to everyone, even to your fellow students at the institute. It may seem a little strange at first, but after a short adjustment that feeling will go away. You and your fellow students are in Mérida to learn Spanish. Many find it extremely helpful to make a personal promise or a promise along with fellow Spanish students not to speak English for an entire day. Also, you could even compete among yourselves to see who is able go the longest without speaking in English.

Most Volunteers find that they can easily spend US$100.00 to US$150.00 per week on miscellaneous expenses such as taxis and snack foods. This amount will vary depending on how active you are during your stay -- movies, dinner, shopping, nights on the town etc. -- and the amount of gifts and souvenirs you wish to purchase. We suggest that you travel with a ATM money card. You will find ATM machines everywhere we go. The exchange rates provided by using the ATM are better than what you will find at the bank. You will also save time by using the ATM since banks will normally involved long lines.

Ask your bank about fees and charges they may have for using a foreign ATM, here the cost for using the ATM machine is 20 pesos (about 1 Dollar). Also ask your bank about your per day limit since it can be frustrating if you want to buy something and you do not have access to enough money. Cards with the Shazam, Cirrus, visa and master card logos work fine in Mexican ATMs.

Currently the exchange rate is approximately 22.00 Pesos (the Mexican currency) per United States dollar. We recommend that you bring a major credit card for unexpected emergency expenses.

While many visitors comment on how safe they feel in Mérida -- many say they feel safer in Mérida than in many bigger cities in the United States -- we still urge you to use common sense and avoid potentially dangerous situations. For example, do not wander the streets late at night looking for a taxi. Instead call the taxi company and have them pick you up at the entrance of your home or from wherever you need ride. Also, do not accept rides or gifts from strangers. Again, use your common sense and you should have no problems. The Institute of Modern Spanish and host families are located in the Northern residential area of Mérida. This area--and Paseo/Prolongacion Montejo--are considered the safest areas are Mérida.