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Over the last several years the city of Tijuana has gone through a culinary renaissance that has captured the attention of the world. Despite the tragic violence the city has experienced, creative chefs and restaurateurs have worked hard to transform Tijuana into a premier destination for great food. Although traditional Mexican cuisine is the base, the innovative chefs of Tijuana have reached new horizons in culinary creativity.

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Ok, we have told you how to apply for or renew your passport! What's next? Well you could just hop on a plane, travel to some far-off land, check into a tourist hotel and go on a bunch of tours to see the local cultural treasures. Indeed we have all done this. But do you want have a deeper cultural experience, one in which you live, eat and stay with local people? Do you want to possibly save some money? Do you have a yearning not just to travel but also do good? If so, read on!

Also, want to travel to learn a new language (or improve your skills) intensively? Then check out our guide to language immersion programs.

Compiled by Julie Tran & Alexandra Harvey

The Center for World Music is a unique nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster awareness and understanding of the world's diverse performing arts and cultures through public performances and teaching. Its primary purpose is to draw public attention to the diversity of the world's performing arts traditions: Asian, African, European, Latin American, and American.

(English • Spanish)

Today San Diego's Little Italy is a bustling commercial, dining and entertainment district. But more than a half century ago, it was a largely residential area populated by Italian families, most of which were involved in San Diego's thriving tuna industry. Over the next few decades, Little Italy became a self-contained neighborhood with its own grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, a Catholic church, an elementary school, a drugstore, and a fire department. Then a half century ago the community was cut in half by the expansion of San Diego's freeway system, devastating a once thriving community. Read about Little Italy's rich past and about local efforts to preserve the neighborhood's unique ethnic character and identity.

A stone's throw from the Gaslamp Quarter, on the corner of 3rd Avenue and J Street, lies the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum. The museum offers San Diegans an artifactual, pictorial and interactive look into the history of San Diego's Chinese-American inhabitants. Admission is an affordable $2. The museum features numerous cultural, historical and artistic displays as well as regularly held educational programs for children and adults. For a small extra fee the museum also offers docent-lead tours of the permanent collection and featured exhibits as well as tours of the remnants of San Diego's former Chinatown.

Kourosh Taghavi, instrumentalist, vocalist and Persian classical musician boasts a passionate approach to music that has impacted audiences around the world. His collaborative projects with master musicians and local cultural organizations work to fulfill his lifelong dream to promote Persian classical music. More recently, his ongoing efforts with the Center for World Music bring the setar and Iranian culture to San Diego school districts through hands-on instruction in Persian classical music.

Home to 48 million people, South Korea takes great pride in its traditions and history. A great example is its delightful food culture that, despite having influenced by other cultures over time, has remained unique among the world's cuisines.

By Julie Park

The music of Brazil is fundamental to its culture. Any traveler to Brazil can easily find music on the streets and beaches, outside restaurants, and in bars and houses. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazilians grow up playing drums, dancing and/or singing. Brazilian music was born five centuries ago out of the melding of different cultures: Portuguese, African, and the indigenous Amerindian. The two most successful musical genres to come out of Brazil are Samba and Bossa Nova.

By Hazel Villasin and Julie Park

Step under the archway entrance to the "village" and you will be greeted by a meandering plaza paved with pastel painted flagstones surrounded by stuccoed cottages with red tile roofs. In the center of the plaza sits a gazebo and a varied collection of charming trees and plants add to the air of quaint serenity. One of the more spectacular studios hosts the paintings of an artist named Lucy Wang, who for the past twenty years has been creating stunningly beautiful paintings that combine tradition-rich techniques of Chinese brush painting with her own path-breaking and innovative techniques.

By Jackie Hwang

Spanish Village Photos by Nuelma Patio
Additional Images: Lucy Wang