Navajo Nation

Experience the ancient desert cultures of the US southwest during a month on the Navajo Nation.

Orientation

Meet your group in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and travel into the Navajo Nation. Spend your first week at Diné College and the area around Tsaile, Arizona, learning about Navajo culture and traditions. An overview of Navajo language, art, and history introduces you to the sacred geography of the region. Experience the area firsthand through hikes in Monument Valley and overnight rafting trips on the San Juan River. Hike into Canyon de Chelly and camp under the stars and among artifacts and ruins. Throughout orientation, you take Navajo language classes, explore on foot, mountain bike, or horseback, and discover the symbolic importance of hogans, wedding baskets, k’é, and baby cradleboards.

Homestay on the Reservation

Surrounded by the protection of the four sacred mountains, discover the kindness of a Navajo family during your 10-day homestay on thereservation. Whether they are herding sheep
in the countryside or getting groceries from the local trading post, the Navajo share their daily lives with you.

Sample activities:
Learn how to cook fry bread; attend rodeos and traditional dances; explore the beautiful and diverse landscape of the southwest desert on horseback; take a day trip to the Hopi Nation.

Community Service

After bidding hágoónee’ to your host families, begin your community service project. Work with Native American work crews on small-scale construction projects.

Sample service projects:
Construct a playground at a Navajo chapter house; build a traditional hogan; assist with farming projects in historic Canyon de Chelly; design and build sun shelters for bears in the Navajo Nation Zoo; build picnic tables at a local campsite.

The Grand Canyon and High Desert Southwest Discovery

Spend your final three nights on the rim of the Grand Canyon and on the shores of Lake Powell. Enjoy day hikes, camp under the wide desert sky, watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon, trek through Antelope Canyon, and spend time on the beach as you reflect on your time in the Navajo Nation. Finally, explore Chaco ruins and the geology of the southwest’s ecologically spectacular high desert on your way back to Albuquerque to bid farewell to your group.

"I went horseback riding and barrel racing, participated in traditional ceremonies, and learned the art of making fry bread. Ultimately, the transformation from stranger to friend was sincere and genuine and one I will never forget."

-- Victoria Vazquez
Chicago, Illinois