We began Traveler's Mind in the state of Veracruz, where tropical coastal lowlands curve around the Gulf of Mexico and rise quickly to jungled forests of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The city of Veracruz, halfway down the gulf, is Mexico's most important working port, a city with a proud legacy of having repelled invaders from Spain, France and the United States.

Over the last decade, Traveler's Mind has taken students to the lazy river town of Tlacotalpan, with its brightly painted houses and Arabic-style arcade; to the Colonial capital of Xalapa, set in a mountainous coffee-growing region near Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest mountain; to the vanilla-growing center of Papantla, where Totonac culture flourishes in language and ritual; and to the colorful, raucous port of Veracruz.

Veracruz is famous for the unique variety of its musical traditions, including the witty jarocho music played on jarana, requinto and harp; the romantic love songs of Augustin Lara, a Veracruz native who became Mexico's most famous popular composer; and several tropical dances of Afro-Caribbean origin, such as the sensuous danzón, danced nightly in the plazas of the port.

Bolivia's Los Masis, restoring Andean cultural heritage	La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's Valparaíso home

Now we range beyond the borders of Veracruz: in 2007, we traveled to India for a workshop in Fort Cochin, Kerala; in 2010, to the old Colonial capital of Sucre, Bolivia; and in 2011 to Valparaíso, on Chile’s central coast. In February 2013, Traveler's Mind will meet again in India, this time in the colorful state of Rajasthan, with its legendary forts and palaces.