Day of the Dead: Mexico's highlands

Day of the Dead isn't about death — it's about remembering. In late October the whole country turns marigold-gold, and families welcome back the ones they've lost with candlelight, sugar skulls, and favorite foods. This trip makes you part of it, not a spectator.

We begin in Mexico City: a food tour through the old town, art and craft markets, and — weather permitting — the city's cable car at sunset; then a dawn balloon flight over the Teotihuacán pyramids. From there into the highlands — the golden dusk of San Miguel de Allende and the colorful hill-city of Guanajuato.

On the night itself we paint traditional faces and join a candlelit vigil at a village cemetery near Pátzcuaro, then take a boat to Janitzio island on the lake — Mexico's oldest and most moving tradition. On the way back we visit Coyoacán and Frida Kahlo's Blue House. Eight to twelve travelers, most of whom came solo — what you leave with is a memory you'll carry for life.