Excited to return to Oaxaca today for the FIESTA DES LO HONGOS MIXTECOS We will be working with our friends @mezcouting to document the festival. I have been thinking alot about what compels us to travel and how we impact communities through tourism and travel. More and more I realize the vast gap between huge corporations bring tourism to extremely vulnerable communities where a a tiny fraction if any of the money generated makes its way back to the communities. We love our partnership with Mezcounting for many reasons but one in particular is that they are committed to slow tourism. Mezcounting was created to bring a more inclusive and unique travel experience by bringing tourists into peoples homes, farms and studios. It’s goal was to create economic opportunities for the people they work work with-especially in rural areas. When guests purchase directly from artisans and producers, the money goes directly to those families.This philosophy brings tourist closer to communities where their dollars actually count. There is nothing like being in someone’s home when you travel, it’s intimate and the memories of those experiences stay with you long after you your bags are unpacked and you are back to life. When we travel with a desire to learn from other cultures rather than take~ magic happens. As a photographers we are committed to telling these slow stories. Stay tuned for mushroom content.#above portrait Don José and Dona Teresita @taller_manos_que_ven #mezcounting #oaxaca #slowtravel #oaxacaartisans A quote I love from a Pico Iyer Ted talk “A person susceptible to "wanderlust" is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation."