Join a Fungivore Adventure in 2026! Details below!
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2025 was a whirlwind or mushrooms, spores, rain, food and fantastic times... wow! Honestly, it is hard to believe we are about to embark on our 7th season hosting adventures in Oaxaca and southern Mexico! The friends we've made along the way, the familiarity of the villages and homes of our partners in the mountains, and the surprises every year as we deepen our own knowledge and context of one of the most important cradles of civilization on the globe. We've had the honor of welcoming alumni back on nearly every trip, and we've added new experiences to broaden our involvement the vast mycological world that is Mexico.
In 2024, we added Chiapas to our list of destinations, and it was truly and unique and magical experience, a tour exploring the entrepreneurial nature of applied mycology, through the lens of small businesses making the most of the latest mushrooms, as well as foraging within just a few short trips. in 2025, After participating in two local Mushroom Festivals (Yuy Fest and Moni Fest), we leaned in more to our Chiapanecan Mycologists Ezequiel Cruz and Alex Estrada, and explored a rare tropical mycorrhizal forest outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez, as well as adding a tour and hike in the stunning Moxviquil Orchid Sanctuary--which had its share of fungi, to understate the experience! 
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2026 is shaping up to be the best of our years yet, and that is saying a lot!
[ALERT: Apparently, people are taking us at our word: as of January 12, both Wild Orchids and MyComida Rupestre have sold out, and MycoThai: Chiang Mai is halfway filled. Make sure you don't hesitate to sign up now, or wait until 2027!] We are taking a major leap this year: We are going to Thailand! This first-of-its-kind experience will be for only 8 attendees (4 spots remianing), and we are so excited to bring folks to our mushroom stomping grounds of 2020 & 2021 during the pandemic. You can see a presentation Zack gave on Thai mushroom culture from Thailand in 2020 here. All of our trips feature experts, local nature guides and mycologists & mushroom entrepreneurs (mycopreneurs!), and provide opportunities for meaningful exchange with indigenous communities--communities that have existed and continue to exist in Mexico (and Thailand) foraging for thousands of years. Past visiting experts include luminaries such as Alissa Allen, Alan Rockefeller, Cheshire Mayrsohn, Christian Schwarz, Dr. Gordon Walker and Mario Gabiati, along with our Mexican partners Celestino Mendez, Ireri Monter, Eli Garcia, Iñaki Oyarvide Ibarrola and Chef Ariadna Pinacho, Timo Mendez, Dra. Mara Haro, to name just a few. This year we are excited to announce some new names joining us, as well as welcoming back some of our favorite people! Scroll down for more! |
The people - from Zack & Kim, to the mycologists, chefs & entrepreneurs, community leaders ... and fellow participants, it was wonderful to be in the company of so many amazingly knowledgeable, passionate, and sharing individuals!"
-Jane; Bay Area, CA
Wild Orchids of Oaxaca Biodiversity Adventure
w/ Mexican Orchid Experts Cristian Tomas and Celestino Mendez
The native Vanilla Orchid, though cultivated and hand-pollinated, this part of the world is where vanilla comes from!
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Announcing our first non-mushroom based trip! After several past attendees revealed their passion for Orchids, as well as Fungi, and with our main partner in Oaxaca being an Orchid Nerd himself, we felt that it was time to try our footing for another type of biodiversity adventure!
This trip is coming up quickly, so make sure you hop on soon! We are offering a $200 Early Bird Discount for anyone who signs up before January 13th! Don’t miss out on this epic first time adventure in a This is NOT a foraging trip! This adventure is an exploration of one of the most biodiverse regions ON EARTH. What to expect: ferns the size of palms, endless waterfalls, swimming, cacao farms, the origin of vanilla orchids, coffee production, local & unique Chinanteco cuisine, hearing the tonal language of the area, meeting artisans, stingless honey bees (this video talks about our hosts Uncle in the same area), hike through true cloud forest, get a tour of one of the largest collections of orchids in North America, and of course, wild orchid viewing from 300m-3000m elevation, all guided by two orchid and biodiversity experts, local to the Sierra Norte! April 13-21, 2026
Wild Orchids of Oaxaca: La Chinantla w/ Bio. Cristian Tomas & Celestino Mendez (8 ppl / 8-nights) SOLD OUT!! |
MyComida Culinary Adventure
w/ Chefs Chad Hyatt & Zachary Hunter
Amanita basii on the comal with pericon and cervesa.
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This food focused adventure covers everything from prix-fix meals (5-courses or more) to all-night roasted barbacoa (that you can help prepare!) with the mountain communities, to market adventures and meals with chefs of Oaxaca known for their expertise in preparing the locally eaten wild mushrooms.
We will visit some of the most important ruins & prehistoric caves with evidence of proto-maize (early corn cultivation), hunt and cook mushrooms, hike daily through gorgeous landscapes; we will explore medicinal herbs and mushrooms, have a lot of time to cook with Chad, all while we learn from the mountain communities the use of the ancient Milpa System of agriculture, and of course hike and explore Oaxaca’s natural wonders at 3000m/10,000ft elevation! We are bringing back our Rupestre adventure to open the season for the fourth year in a row. This full contact adventure turned into a 40km week at 8000ft! We are excited to bring back renowned mushroom chef Chad Hyatt this year to hike and cook with us! July 15-23, 2026
MyComida Rupestre Adventure w/ Chef Chad Hyatt (10 ppl / 8-nights) SOLD OUT!! |
MycoThai: The Mushroom Culture of Northern Thailand
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What else can we say… This trip has been over 5 years in the making. Here is a video presentation Zack gave in 2020 about the mushrooms in Thailand from Thailand, where the pandemic gave us two mushroom seasons to explore and learn about the area [start at Minute 6 to skip the club admin].
We have stayed in contact with our friends, chefs, experts, locals, etc. there since then, and what we have in store for the lucky eight who join us is an adventure we cannot wait to share. We will be based in Chiang Mai, so expect some of the best cuisine on earth, foraging, waterfalls, incredible artisans, temple and market explorations, eating with villagers, cooking classes and more! August 15 - 24, 2025:
Forage and explore the mushrooms of Chiang Mai and beyond! (8 ppl/9 nights) ONLY 4 SPOTS LEFT! |
Our 4th year with the North American Mycological Association:
NAMA_MX26: Return to Ixtlan
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For our 4th iteration of our groundbreaking NAMA_MX event, we are taking a second look at the myriad fungi we vouchered last year in Ixtlan, and doubling our records.
In 2023, we began a long journey of uniting the entire North American continent in mycology. Following the footsteps of other mycologists who have come before, we set out to introduce the United States and Canada to the incredible mycology and mycologists of Mexico. In 2024, we revisted the mushroom-filled landscape of Mexico State, and honed our vision of collaboration and species collection with the Tlahuica and Mazahua communities with whom we have worked over the two years. In 2025, we brought NAMA to the heart of Mexico, to the birthplace of Benito Juarez, to the deep Zapotec mountain communities of Oaxacans whose mushroom knowledge is as old as it is deep! And. it. was. awesome. So we are doing it again, with an expanded offering and even more mycologists, some rumored to be returning from our 2023 inaugural event! September 6 - 13, 2026
NAMA_MX26: Journey to Ixtlan (45 ppl/7 nights) |
MycoChiapas Mycological Adventure with Fungaria
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Perhaps one of the most fascinating landscapes in North America, the idyllic town of San Cristobal in the Highlands of Chiapas is a mountain Mayan colonial-style town where you will still hear local languages in the markets and broadcast over the radio.
Situated in the stunning valleys of sheer limestone cliffs, we will first explore the ancient seabed around Tuxtla Gutierrez, including into the corocodile infested Sumidero Canyon, then to a tropical mycorrhizal forest before rising 6000ft to the old city and stunning forests all within an hour's drive to find a wide variety of fungi. Returning for our third year, we can confidently call this foray a boutique experience: staying in the center of an vibrant town at a beautiful hotel, and diving into the small business and entrepreneurial culture of mushrooms, from fungi-themed menus to medicine to chocolate making to myco tours in the parks to a cooking demo, this adventures boasts all this and more. We are so excitied to partner again with the brilliant Fungaria team: local mycologists, slime mold experts, Chef Karla, as well as the myriad businesses within San Cristobal and surrounding towns. September 30- October 8, 2026:
San Cristobal Mycological Adventure w/ Fungaria (12 ppl / 8 nights) |
MyColores: Chiapas Highlands; San Cristobal de las Casas
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It is appropriate to say that colorful is an understatement when it comes to the textiles and displays in Chiapas. Home to the Mayans, and several language groups often lumped all together as Maya (Tzotzil, Tseltal, Zoque), Chiapas is one of the most biodiverse regions of the world, second in Mexico only to Oaxaca. Like Oaxaca, this diversity extends to culture, art, food, design and aesthetic, especially in textiles, which not only tell of which village one is from, but also evolve styles themselves year after year.
Kim Hunter has experimenting with and demonstrating the dye mushrooms in Chiapas throughout 2025, creating the rainbow on the left entirely from the wild mushrooms gathered in the area. Alissa Allen will be returning to Mexico for her 5th year in a row, joining us in this mountain town to explore the mushrooms here, interface with local artisans, and explore the woods and caves of the Chiapanecan Highlands! We stay in the hotel Sombra del Agua, lush accomodations in the heart of San Cristobal the entire time. We are setting you free most evenings and nights to find your own adventure, forge new friendships, and otherwise enjoy your time in this Spanish colonial town. There is so much to explore! As in previous years, each participant will leave with small skeins of each color we produce, and sufficient knowledge to start playing with dye mushrooms at home! October 11- October 19, 2026:
MyColores: Chiapas Highlands w/ Alissa Allen San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas (12 ppl / 8 nights) |
