CONOCER is a collaborative endeavor between people in two different zones of the North American continent. We in the US live in the material prosperity of a highly industrialized economy.  If we are middle-class people, we shop for imported cheeses and wine, we fill our homes with electronics, we take exotic vacations.  More and more we tend to pay other people to fix our cars, to mow our lawns, to repair our homes, to cook and serve our food.  Our per capita income is more than $41,000/yr.

We in Mexico live in a much less industrialized economy.  Our per capita income is around $10,000/year.  Under the pressures of globalization, our traditional agricultural society is threatened and our rural population is streaming into our cities and looking across our northern frontier for ways to earn money.  In the rural state of Michoacán where CONOCER is based, it is hard to find a single family that does not have relatives currently or previously working in the States.  There is a constant flow of people going north.

But there is a relative trickle in the other direction.  When US citizens do travel to Mexico, they often head for resort areas along the Caribbean or Pacific Coast. They enjoy lots of margaritas served alongside the pool, lots of mariachi music or romantic guitars and lots of smiling waiters and cab drivers.  Most US travelers spend their money in settings designed for the international tourist trade. They go home without meeting Mexicans in their normal settings, the places where they shop and walk their children to school and gather with their families and work at their own businesses. 

This is where CONOCER comes in.  We endeavor to introduce US travelers to life in an ordinary Mexican town. Through a full schedule of daily excursions and sight-seeing trips, our participants will be exposed to Mexican traditions.  The homestay is a key component of our program because we believe that staying with a family is the best way to experience a different culture.  We do provide Spanish classes, but we are not primarily a language school.  Our aim is broader than teaching Spanish as a Second Language.  CONOCER is Spanish for “to become acquainted with” or “to get to know.”  The word captures the essence of our two-week program for US travelers who want to get to know the texture and pace of daily life in the spectacular mountains of central Mexico.

Team Members:
Jackie Reid Dettloff taught Hispanic students for 12 years in Milwaukee Public Schools.  She first visited Mexico as a college student, an experience that changed the course of her life.  It is out of her profound respect for the culture of Mexico that she was inspired to organize this program.

Tere Caballero Menendez has spent most of her life in the town of Zinapécuaro, Michoacán. With her background of civic activities, she is connected to a sizable network of townspeople.  She coordinates the homestay component of CONOCER.

Mary Lou Lamonda is a citizen of the world. After living in Australia, Asia and Africa, she applies her considerable computer expertise to supporting our program of inter-American connections.

Jorge Medina Caballero coordinates excursions around Zinapécuaro.  His numerous local contacts make our excursions very personal.

Rosa Caballero Moreno is Director of Los Niños Heroes Primary School during the school year.  In the summer, she teaches Spanish.

Tanya Gonzales López teaches Spanish to CONOCER participants; during the school year she is busy as a kindergarten teacher.