Instructors: Dave "Flaco" Kinstle and Trevor "Coco" Cralle

Cost: $900, passport required

"The very air here is miraculous, and
outlines of reality change with the moment.
The sky sucks up the land and disgorges it.
A dream hangs over the whole region,
a brooding kind of hallucination."
—JOHN STEINBECK
Log from the Sea of Cortez

This trip will give you the opportunity to travel through one of only three coastal deserts in the world. We will zigzag our way about two thirds of the way down the 1,000-mile-long peninsula in four-wheel drive vehicles and camp out where the desert meets the sea.

Along the way we will check out beautiful deserted beaches, Dr. Seuss-like boojum trees, an enormous dune field, gigantic cardón cacti, and a cool date palm oasis. A major highlight will be hiking down into a remote canyon to view the spectacular petroglyphs and cave paintings of the Cochimí Indians. Other activities include whale watching, journaling, sharing stories around campfires, stargazing, bathing and playing in the ocean, and our quest for the ultimate fish tacos.

Spanish language skills are not required to participate in this program; however, we will actively learn and practice enough vocabulary and phrases to earn the respect of the locals. Students will attend and participate in regular group meetings leading up to our departure. We will discuss various aspects of the program and bond as a group, which will help facilitate a smooth trip. Each student will become a "resident expert" on a topic, such as a plant or animal, and prepare a field report to be presented to the group during the trip.

Trevor and Dave, AKA "Coco y Flaco," have traveled extensively throughout Baja with Maybeck students many times over the years. We have perfected this program down to an art and a science. Our goal is always to put together a rich and rewarding adventure that is packed full of fun and exciting activities. Safety is always our number one concern. This is not a vacation; it is an educational experience.

Amigos, step out of the United States and your comfort zone and cross the border into a magical landscape, where you will learn about another culture. If you are a person who embraces the unexpected and vast open spaces, this is your trip. ¡Buen Viaje!

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Instructors: Anne Marszalek and Sarah Herr

Cost: $2300, hopefully less; passport required

Come travel the ages as we tour one of the countries that has had the greatest impact on Western civilization. Italy attained its current geographical structure only recently, in the nineteenth century, but long before that it was the land of the Romans, the seat of Papal power, and home to many wealthy and feuding city-states. To explore these dimensions of Italy's history, geography, and culture, we will divide our time between three major cities: Venice, Florence, and Rome.

In Venice we will explore the maze of walkways that wind through this water-laced city and take a vaporetto (water bus) ride down the Grand Canal to admire the palaces that line each side of the water. We will visit the Rialto, once the most powerful trading center in Europe, now full of market stalls displaying carnival masks and blown glass from the nearby island of Murano. And we'll spend time on the magnificent Piazza San Marco, whose campanile (bell tower) inspired Berkeley's landmark and whose Byzantine duomo (cathedral) reflects the economic and naval dominance Venice once held as a juncture between Europe and the Near-East.

Florence, home of the Medici family, was the birthplace of the Renaissance. Come and see some of its marvelous art—Michelangelo's David and the world's best Renaissance and pre-Renaissance art museum: the Uffizi, full of masterpieces by Botticelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Titian, and more. Come see Venus rising on the shell! The Florentines began to construct their huge cathedral in 1295 without knowing how to build a dome large enough to span the crossing. Their faith in future generations was well-founded: 125 years later Brunelleschi designed the landmark dome that now crowns the skyline of Florence.

Florence is a great starting point for day trips to Pisa, whose leaning tower is only one building amidst a group of striking marble structures at the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles); Siena, bitter rival of Florence for hundreds of years; and San Gimignano, whose 72 medieval towers are now reduced to 14, but still make for a beautiful skyline and great views of the Tuscan countryside.

Think the Renaissance art was amazing? In Rome we will see what the Romans accomplished over one thousand years earlier. We will visit the Pantheon, one of the few Roman structures still intact, whose vast dome inspired Brunelleschi. We will visit the Colosseum and the Forum and of course Vatican City, where we will see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.

Besides reveling in art, architecture, history, and scenery, we will also enjoy Italy's culinary delights, from panini and pasta to gelato. We will do lots of walking as we explore the intricacies of medieval cities and people-watch in the more modern city-scape of Rome. We will stay in hostels and travel by train and bus. We will eat simply most days and focus our energies on absorbing the ambiance and sights Italy has to offer.

Students who take part in this program will be required to attend weekly meetings in advance of our departure, to prepare presentations on a variety of cultural and historical topics, and to keep a journal during our trip. The ultimate cost of the program will depend on the exchange rate and the number of participants, as well as other factors. Of course, we will keep costs as low as possible.

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Instructor: Sarah Kayler

Cost: $1050 ($900 if you have your own equipment)

This is an active, intensely physical program. Students choose between snowboarding or skiing. All skill levels are welcome. We will arrange appropriate level classes as needed. While skiing may look like the work of gravity, remaining on your skis and heading in the direction you want to go will involve more muscles than you ever thought you had. Skiing is strenuous exercise; it is a sport for a lifetime. Students will earn P.E. credit for this program if they participate fully on all days. We will head up to Truckee on Sunday, March 26, hit the slopes for 5 days, rest for the weekend while the slopes are crowded, hit the slopes for another 5 days, and return on Saturday, April 8.

On the trip, we will get up at 7:00 AM every morning and hit the slopes right after breakfast. Beginners will spend the day learning new skills, while experienced skiers will improve on skills they already have. We will return to the cabin where students will prepare dinner and clean up the kitchen. We will go to bed reasonably early so we will be rested for the next day.

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Survey of Spanish and Latin American Film

Instructor: Paco Montfort

Cost: $100

During these two weeks, we will view some of the most representative films from Spain and Latin America. We will learn about the directors and the socio-political environments that produced such films. Luis Buñuel, María Luisa Bemberg, Alfonso Arau, Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Jodorowski are among the directors we will discuss. We may also see some relevant films from Brazil. All the movies we will see will be in the original version with subtitles, so all can take part of this Special Program. We will have popcorn and soda too! If during the program there is a Spanish or Latin American movie playing in the area, we will go on an outing to see it. I will be on the lookout!

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Bay Area Art and Culture

Instructor: Sue Matthews

Cost: $200

What makes the Bay Area a place everybody wants to visit? This course will investigate some fascinating and delicious reasons why. We will take a look at established traditions and experience some recent contributions to our cultural life. Our excursions will include a trip to The Crucible, Oakland's fine art foundry, a tour of China Town in San Francisco with lunch in a Chinese restaurant, a visit to the fantastic new Asian Art Museum, a mural walk in San Francisco's Mission district with lunch in a taquería, a visit to Yerba Buena Gardens, the Museum of Modern Art, and the fabulous new De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. We'll take a tour of North Beach, complete with a walk up the 45-degree angle hill leading to the Art Institute, have lunch in the student café, and dessert in an Italian bakery. We'll visit the commercial galleries in the financial district of San Francisco. Back at school we'll screen our own Spike Lee film festival, participate in a hands-on Afro-Cuban drumming workshop, a feet-on salsa dance workshop, and an introductory capoeira workout. Get ready to walk, dance, eat and play. By the end of this course you will know how to get around to the most interesting places, and you will have tasted all of the spices and flavors at full strength, in the "melting pot" that refuses to melt.

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The Artist and Oil Painting

Instructor: Stan Cardinet

Cost: $215

Artists have been working in oils for hundreds of years. In this program we will explore several questions, including these two: 1) Why do people paint? and 2) Why do people paint in oils? In looking for possible answers, we will look at the life and work of several great painters. We will look at slides of work by such interesting painters as Van Gogh, Pollock, O'Keefe, and Dali. But the primary activity in the program will center on using the tools, pigments, and other materials of oil painting: In other words, we will paint. Instruction will emphasize how properly to use and care for the tools and materials. We will discuss the health hazards inherent and the precautions necessary in working with art materials. The workshop will end with a critique of our work.

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Beowulf & Broadswords: Let's Get Medieval!

Instructor: Michael Ditmore

Cost: $200

This program, like a good broadsword, has two edges: we will learn medieval fight technique with broadswords, and we will learn about the Middle Ages. We will divide our time each day between intense physical activity and study, by various means, of the culture of the Middle Ages.

• Stage Combat: Using wooden swords like the ones used in the middle ages to train with, students will learn and practice stage combat, a form in which no one ever gets hit by a blade. The fight technique is accurate to actual medieval sword technique, but no sword ever touches a body, because what we learn is practice technique, how fighters in the Middle Ages were actually trained.


• Physical Training: Because fighting with the broadsword is physically demanding, the course will have an important physical training component: you have to be willing to commit to the discipline of self-respect and respect and care for your opponent; you'll learn stretches and footwork as well as how to hold the sword, and how to defend and attack with the two-handled and the hand-and-a-half broadsword.


• Readings, Films and Discussion: We will also study medieval culture and history. We'll read and talk about what they read in the middle ages: medieval monster stories like the Beowulf, and medieval slasher epics like the bloody and violent Niebelungenlied, and love stories like Tristan and Isolde, and works of philosophical speculation like Boetheus' Consolatio and Augustin's City of God. We will learn how people ate, what they read, how they made love, and what they thought about the world as well as how they fought. We will also listen to medieval music and view films set in the Middle Ages that feature significant fights with the type of swords we'll be learning about.

By the end of the course students will have mastered broadsword exercises and practice routines with the broadsword. Students will team up to perform a fight scene using stage technique. In addition, students will have a broader understanding of this vital and significant period in history. The cost of the program includes the purchase of a hand-and-a-half broadsword and a pair of gloves, which students will get to keep.

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