OAXACA!!
The Fourth Regional Foray in Mexico with the
North American Mycological Association!
UPDATE - If you are anywhere near the orbit of anyone who took the leap to attend this first or second NAMA Mycological Forays in Mexico in 2023-2025, you know, because they haven't shut up about it. What started out as a tantalizing idea in early 2022 became a pivotal and ground-breaking interconnection between mycologists in Mexico and the United States; long-time coming connections between the indigenous communities of Mexico State, attendees and visiting chefs and mycologists... connections that will last a lifetime! After two runs at the incredible Hotel Rodavento in Valle de Bravo, we felt it was time to expand the range of NAMA programs to beating heart of ancient and modern Mexican mycological history: Oaxaca. And the result was fantastic.
We shoot to pierce even deeper into the endless font of wisdom and knowledge that Mexico represents: This time, in Book 4--sorry our fourth year--of our NAMA_MX Saga, we return our Ixtlán. Ixtlán de Juraez is the largest community within the Zapotec speaking Sierra Juarez, part of the Sierra Norte mountain range of Southern Mexico, located in the state of Oaxaca, comprising about 2500 people. Through collective community action, they have created amazing infrastructure at their EcoTurIxtlan adventure camp, for lack of a better word: complete with conference center, hikes, natural beauty, restaurant on-site, temescal, and wood-fire heated cabins for about 65 people to stay comfortably, this mixed pine forest hideaway is a biodiversity playground... and literal playground! Oaxaca has been in the consciousness of the mycological world since the 1956 LIFE magazine featured a Oaxacan 'shaman' Maria Sabina and blew the lid off of "magic mushrooms." Yes, that was the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, too!
And so, we are doing it again. Since vouchering and recording species for science (to be submitted as Type Specimens at national universities in Mexico) forms the cornerstone of NAMA activities, we have settled on each area we investigate two years in a row. This provides an opportunity to see the yearly spread on species, if some are fickle, and the opportunity for different climates.
The Fungivore has been operating in Oaxaca since 2019, and in Ixtlan de Juarez since September of 2021, our inaugural adventure with native guide Celestino Mendez. There is no question the impact of the community was deeply felt in 2025, with mycologists from La Chinantla, Mexico City, Queretaro, Chiapas, The State of Mexico, Oaxaca all participating in a program that was vast in scope.
Please see our day-by-day itinerary below, under the Key Trip Details section.
We shoot to pierce even deeper into the endless font of wisdom and knowledge that Mexico represents: This time, in Book 4--sorry our fourth year--of our NAMA_MX Saga, we return our Ixtlán. Ixtlán de Juraez is the largest community within the Zapotec speaking Sierra Juarez, part of the Sierra Norte mountain range of Southern Mexico, located in the state of Oaxaca, comprising about 2500 people. Through collective community action, they have created amazing infrastructure at their EcoTurIxtlan adventure camp, for lack of a better word: complete with conference center, hikes, natural beauty, restaurant on-site, temescal, and wood-fire heated cabins for about 65 people to stay comfortably, this mixed pine forest hideaway is a biodiversity playground... and literal playground! Oaxaca has been in the consciousness of the mycological world since the 1956 LIFE magazine featured a Oaxacan 'shaman' Maria Sabina and blew the lid off of "magic mushrooms." Yes, that was the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, too!
And so, we are doing it again. Since vouchering and recording species for science (to be submitted as Type Specimens at national universities in Mexico) forms the cornerstone of NAMA activities, we have settled on each area we investigate two years in a row. This provides an opportunity to see the yearly spread on species, if some are fickle, and the opportunity for different climates.
The Fungivore has been operating in Oaxaca since 2019, and in Ixtlan de Juarez since September of 2021, our inaugural adventure with native guide Celestino Mendez. There is no question the impact of the community was deeply felt in 2025, with mycologists from La Chinantla, Mexico City, Queretaro, Chiapas, The State of Mexico, Oaxaca all participating in a program that was vast in scope.
Please see our day-by-day itinerary below, under the Key Trip Details section.
A unique and authentic adventure in a beautiful, rain forest-like mountains in Mexico, full of mushrooms! So much about this beautiful tour was a pleasant surprise. I seek mushroom experts who...are...knowledgeable in their use by indigenous people. I was so surprised and pleased at the assembled mycologists and ethnomycologists. They shared with us their work, and we joined them, their students, and members of the indigenous communities in whose forests we foraged, for amazing mushroom hunts!" |
Key Trip Details
Cooking wild mushrooms over the traditional 'comal,' a hot plate of metal or ceramic heated by wood-fire
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Length: 7 nights
Average Foray Distance: 2 miles/day Altitude: 7,000-9,000 feet Exertion Level: Easy to Moderate Accommodations: - 2 Nights in Oaxaca City - 5 Nights at EcoturIxtlan Cabañas All meals included: 6 Breakfasts; 6 Lunches; 7 Dinners Amenities: Incredible fungi-rich 40 acres of rustic accommodations & foraging grounds; optional temescal, on-site restaurant. Price: $2600.00 |
Elinoar Shavit shows off a
gorgeous Exsudoporus frostii.
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Day-to-Day Itinerary Overview
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September 6th- Day 1: Opening Dinner and Mixer at a special location. Welcome talk from The Fungivore founders Zachary and Kimberly Hunter; NAMA introduction by Bruch Reed.
September 7th - Day 2: Visit Monte Alban, and then to Los Animas for Lunch and then on to Ixtlan. Community Introduction and area tour, Welcome to Biodiversity of Oaxaca. Dinner & Free Evening to connect with other attendees. September 8th - Day 3: Morning Session: iNaturalist and Vouchering by Bruch Reed, Dr. Andrew Wilson and Dr. Andrés Argüelles-Moyao; Safari Van Group 1; Full foray day; introductions to our field mycologists. Review of our finds; Afternoon Session: NAMA NE Annual Foray Report by Ireri Monter; Dinner. September 9th - Day 4: Morning Session: Ethnomycology in México and LatinAmerica: How to understand and apply ethical codes by Dra. Mara X. Haro-Luna (Chief ethnomycologist); 2nd Foray Day; Safari Van Group 2; Evening Session: Mexico as a Megadiverse Country: An Introduction to Fungal Diversity by Dr. Andrés Argüelles-Moyao; Atlas of México’s Biodiversity: Mapping Fungal Diversity by Dr. Roberto Garibay Orijel; Dinner |
Top: A demonstration making of a molinillo, the tool used to make hot chocolate in Oaxaca! Bottom: Among the many surprises in Ixtlan were several species of craterellus that stumped our mycologists!
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September 10th - Day 5: Third Foray Location: Picnic lunch; Safari Van Group 3; Evening Session: Fungi of Oaxaca I: Territory, Diversity and Ecology by Timo Méndez; PANEL Fungi of Oaxaca II: Communities and Living Practices by Dr. Uzziel Ríos, Dr. Alexanders López García, Dra. Julieta Serafina Pérez Amaya
September 11th - Day 6: Morning session: Mycological Gastronomy by Joaquín Cardoso; All Day Community Fair; ID Table talk for local attendees (en español), Kimberly Hunter How to use the Dye Mushrooms of Ixtlan de Juarez (Demonstration); Final closing dinner showcasing our indigenous and modern Chefs! September 12th: Final day: Final words, closing at EcoTurIxtlan; lunch and depart for Oaxaca City for our closing dinner with Celebrated Oaxacan Chef Rodolfo Casteneda of Restaurante Origen! September 13th- Day 8: Check out of Hotel! But definitely stay in Oaxaca for some time to explore this incredible city, as your sperpective will be greatly broadened after our week together! |
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Oaxaca is more than just the seed of Mexican culture. The prehistoric caves in the Mitla valley contains evidence of the earliest cultivation of corn and pumpkin, the first of which is the most widely grown crop on earth now. Oaxaca is a cradle of civilization oft overlooked in our historical summaries. But within these forests are cultures with 10,000 years of memory and expertise in the field. Oh, and the food is banging.
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Watch the recording of Zachary's February 2025 Webinar:
"The Mushroom People of the Oaxacan Mountains"
Read & Hear more about NAMA_MX and Ixtlan de Juarez, OAX:
WATCH the recording of Zachary Hunter's February 13th, 2025 NAMA Official Webinar presentation:
"The Mushroom People of the Oaxacan Mountains" |
Oaxaca's indigenous communities of Ixtlán as featured in The Guardian. May 1st, 2024!Read this fantastic article on the Sierra Norte mountains of Oaxaca, focusing on the community of Ixtlán de Juarez, where we will be for our NAMA_MX24: Journey to Ixtlan.
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READ the glowing review of NAMA_MX23
on Page 20 of the Mycophile Quarterly, the Publication of the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) |
Lectures & presentations, daily forays, interactive cooking demos, indigenous panels, vouchering & iNaturalist lessons, science, community and friends...
What could possibly go right?
("That's what they say just before EVERYTHING goes right!")
It is hard to go into the amount detail possible to convey just how amazing our events have been these last three years. All we can say is, for 2026, we have taken all that was amazing, amplified it and take us back to our (The Fungivore's) familiar home stomping woods of the Sierra Juarez mountains, the mycophilic Mancomunados, one of the global leaders on community organization and resistance to global pressures. In fact, since 2025, our guide and ground team director Celestino has been elected by his community to be the Director of all biodiversity projects throughout the 9 towns of the mancomunados!
Please read both the Mycophile Quarterly article, an articulate review of one of our inaugural event by Bruch Reed, and take a look at the NAMA_MX23 Extended Program, complete with biographies of participating chefs and mycologists. We haven't yet released the line-up for 2026, though needless to say, several of our participants will be returning for our fourth round. We are exploring some very exciting new content this year, as one of the main areas we have expanded is time during the day for programming!
Please read both the Mycophile Quarterly article, an articulate review of one of our inaugural event by Bruch Reed, and take a look at the NAMA_MX23 Extended Program, complete with biographies of participating chefs and mycologists. We haven't yet released the line-up for 2026, though needless to say, several of our participants will be returning for our fourth round. We are exploring some very exciting new content this year, as one of the main areas we have expanded is time during the day for programming!
The Power of Community Organization
Wild mushroom (Craterellus tubaeformis & C. lutescens) at the folk market in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.
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A brand new 2025 poster by Timo Mendez of some of the mushrooms known in the Ixtlan and Mancomunados region of Oaxaca.
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Much of Oaxaca is under the jurisdiction of indigenous communities--something like 470 out of 580 municipalities are autonomous, meaning they take care of themselves, govern themselves, police themselves, among their duties. Many of these communities have been operating under a democratic consensus model for centuries if not millennia. Each community is its own entity, has it's own customs, it's own language(!) and it's own relationship to the natural world, to each other and the 'outside' world. They not only love to hunt and eat mushrooms, but are incredibly knowledgeable in the care of their forests, in the types and parts of mushrooms, and the various growing cycles, the manner in which to harvest, the ecology and so much more, learned after hundreds of years of sustainable forestry management. We at the The Fungivore earnestly believe that learning from the ecological model that includes people, especially the indigenous, as the caretakers of the planet rather than exclude them "for nature's sake" is essential. Mexico and her innumerable communities provide an excellent example of where to begin this essential learning.
¡Vayamos a Mexico, amigos... Hongueremos!
WHAT PAST NAMA_MX ATTENDEES HAVE SAID:
26 of the ultimate 30 edible species of fungi in Ixtlan.
"To be totally immersed in all things fungi with such an amazing cast of people.”
- Gillian; Costa Rica "The trip exceeded my expectations. You will see a side of Mexico that most tourists don't get to experience."
- Ron; Texas |
"I found the trip, fascinating, populated, as it was by people deeply interested in and knowledgeable about mushrooms of all sorts, the exposure to the native communities of Ixtlan and their uses of mushrooms, spurred a real interest in me to learn more. And Celestino was absolutely amazing…"
- Mickey; Wisconsin 
Filipe Ruan-Soto gives a table talk for the community of Ixtlan to talk about the variety of fungi we found in 2025.
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"The bright colors everywhere: streamers, statues and things of art, women's dresses and jewelry, the flowers, fungi and exotic trees and plants and especially the music wherever there are Mexican people. All these things make me feel like I'm seeing the world through the eyes of a child."
- Dave L.; California
- Dave L.; California
Check out our 2025, 2024, and 2023
event programs in the States of Oaxaca & México State
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Take a look at the Extended Programs from previous years organized and assembled by Ireri Monter CEO of Symbiosis Viva La Funga!
Our NAMA_MX26 Oaxaca Team
Zachary & Kim
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Ireri Monter
Mycologist & CEO, Symbiosis Viva La Funga
Ireri Monter is a Mexican biologist from the Faculty of Sciences, UNAM. She is the founder and CEO of Symbiosis Viva La Funga, an organization dedicated to educating and dispersing edible mushrooms to chefs in Mexico City directly from the rural communities surrounding CDMX.
She specializes in mycotourism, myco-medicinals and environmental education, as well as identification and consumption of wild edible mushrooms from Central Mexico. Ireri has also contirbuted important research on the identification and quantification of mycotoxins in food; as well as the production, marketing and research for products derived from functional fungi. We are thrilled to have Ms. Monter back thius year as our program director for continued success in co-organizing this event for the 4th year for NAMA_MX26! See Ireri's work on the Symbiosis webpage. |
Bruch Reed
COO; North American Mycological Association
Bruch Reed--whom some would call the beating heart within the body of the North American Mycological Association--is one of the hardest working myco-geeks in the field. He is the operating energy behind NAMA. Living in Chicago, Bruch is dedicated to the practice of vouchering, and works closely with the Chicago Field Museum to keep a store vouchered records from NAMA's regional forays since the late 1990s, with literally thousands of mushroom species recorded, dried and stored.
Bruch was instrumental in the NAMA_MX23 for the organization and operation of the vouchering program, which came away with several hundred species to explore further that he retruned in 2024 and vouchered something along the line of another 175 species almost single handedly! In 2025, we finally brought Bruch to our stomping grounds of Oaxaca, and he was blwon away... so much in fact--by the orchids as well as the mushrooms and culture--that he is returning TWICE in 2026: in April, as our US Orchid expert for our Wild Orchids tour, and returning for NAMA_MX26 as voucher chair and COO of the North American Mycological Association. |
Celestino Mendez
Community Organizer, researcher and Guide
Celestino Mendez is a local Zapotec member of the Mancomunados of the Sierra Nortes, farming and living in his native village of Latuvi. He leads treks, mountain bike tours, mountain summit tours and more through Walk With Celestino.
We met Celestino in 2019 at the Cuajimoloays Mushroom Festival, and have partnered with him on all of our tours in 2021 and 2022. He is passionate about orchids, and has a deep knowledge of the forests & ecological diversity in the Sierra Norte. Celestino has been our local partner for all of our tours in the Sierra Nortes since 2021. It is an honor to bring him into the fold for NAMA_MX25. As a representative of the Mancomunados, Celestino is in a unique position to bring the local community and the greater North American community together. In 2025, Celestino embarked on an ambitious project of mapping the biodiversity of the entire Mancomunados, and was elected by his community as manager of the Flora, Fauna, and Funga project of the nine community collective. Celestino will be with us for all of our Sierra Norte adventures in 2026: Wild Orchids, MyComida: Rupestre, and NAMA_MX26. |
The Cost, How to Join, and What is Covered:
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Payment Policy, Non-Refundable Deposit and Refund Schedule
The cost of the trip is $2600.00, before applicable discounts, such as Early Bird [-$250], or multi-booking discounts [-$150]. Discounts may not be used in tandem. Payments for the trip shall be made in full, and includes the NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT (NRD) of 20% (of the full price) which helps us secure accommodations, reserve transportation, book restaurants, and secure the tour. With this payment commitment, your deposit will be returned to you only on one of two conditions: the trip is completely canceled (all monies will be returned), or you help arrange for someone else to take your place. Refunds for cancellations will be returned on the following schedule, minus Stripe processing fees (~3%):
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How to Join
We review each application to make sure this adventure is a good fit for all participants, and give us insight on how to create the best experience for the whole group. Upon review, we're reach out after January 15th to discuss group informational calls, and offer payment links, as well next steps. We will fill the trip in the order of applications received and deposits secured. Our group size is capped at 45 participants. If you are even a little interested, get your spot for 2026! Payment plans are available on a case-by-case basis, and accrue a small fee. Please send an email to info@thefungivore.com to explore this option. The deposit is non-refundable IN MOST CASES. We use it immediately to secure transportation, lodging and reservations. If this trip is canceled completely for any reason, you will get your payment back, minus unrecoverable credit card processing fees. |
What is Covered on Trip
*Full occupancy is assumed for our available accommodations, this means double occupancy in Oaxaca City, and up to 5 beds per cabin in Ixtlan de Juarez. There is no need to bring bedding, however. Choice of beds will be first come first serve (double, bottom bunk, top bunk), private rooms are not available in Ixtlan. If you are traveling with someone, be sure to let us know if you need ONE BED or TWO (or more)! **All meals from dinner September 6th -Dinner - September 12th Dinner, 2 nights in the city and 5 nights in cozy cabin lodging, forays, activities, and classes are all included. Alcohol, souvenirs, and some optional activities are not included. Neither the flight to/from Oaxaca City, nor transportation to the city from the airport ($7-20) is NOT included. Please make travel arrangements to join us at our designated Hotel, or from your own hotel, for our opening dinner event on September 6th. |
