Hermanos En El Camino (Brothers On The Road) is a shelter in Ixtepec, Oaxaca. founded by Padre Alejandro Solalinde.  It gives Central American migrants a brief respite from their journey.  The majority of migrants hop trains at Mexico's southern border and head North.  Most want to make it to the US to work but some will stay in Mexico.  There is only one word that describes their trip: horrific.  They are exposed to the elements as they ride on top of the train cars.  80% will be assaulted, 60% of the women will be raped.  I spent a week in the shelter and was incredibly impressed and moved by what I saw.  The shelter's website is:  http://www.hermanosenelcamino.org

After my stay at Hermanos en el Camino, I spent a week with Las Patronas, a group of women in the village of La Patrona, Veracruz, who hand out food and water to Central American migrants as they ride by on the train.  Migrants may travel for days without food or water.  Las Patronas are all volunteers and spend up to 12 hours a day--every day--preparing and handing out food and water.  It was an honor to spend a week with them. 

I spent a few days in Hueyapan, a small village in Puebla that's known for it's weaving.  And I was able to return to Amaquil, Chiapas, a coffee-growing village I visited in 2010.  I got a few more shots of coffee production and was able to attend a church service.

Benito Juarez is a small settlement in the Zapatista Autonomous region of Chiapas.  It's pretty remote--it was a four hour ride in a pickup truck and a four hour muddy walk from Las Margaritas.  There's no electricity and people are all subsistence farmers.  The only cash crops are coffee and cacao and those generate only about $500 to $600/year for a family. 

I spent five days with Nicolás, Catalina and their family in Amaquil, a ranchería about an hour and a half ride from San Cristóbal, Chiapas.  A ranchería is often referred to as a "community"; really more a collection of widely spaced houses than a village.  Campesinos here are of Mayan descent and speak Tzeltal.  The main cash crop is coffee and campesinos belong to a fair trade co-op called Kulaktik.

Morelos was the first state I visited during this project.  I was in San Augustin, a tiny village and Tlalquiltenango, a medium-sized city.  I photographed people working in nopal (an edible cactus), jicama and sugar cane. 

I spent five days in Tabasco, mostly in a rancheria called Villaflores. A rancheria isn't really even a village. The houses are widely spaced and there's no zocalo, or town square. The region is known for its cacao but a fungal infection has decreased production by 80%. There are few options for campesinos.

I spent a week in Cuetzalan, a lovely village in the mountains of Puebla.  Tosepan Titataniske (a Nahuatl phrase meaning "Together We Will Overcome") is a Fair Trade Cooperative there, selling coffee, honey and black pepper among other things.  They also have an ecotourist site called Tosepankali, which is just outside of the village. Tosepan does a lot of great things in the area; in addition to promoting Fair Trade, they have a bank which offers low interest loans to campesinos, they promote sustainable living and women's rights.

I spent several days in villages near Cuetzalan, Puebla; one of these was Santiago Yancuictlalpan.  I wanted to document what it's like for women in el campo, especially women whose husbands have left to find work outside the village.  Serafina's husband is in Puebla and she hasn't seen him in several years.  It's not clear if he left for economic reasons but she gets no support from him nor from anyone else.  She has about an acre of land, growing coffee to sell; beans, corn and other vegetables for the family to eat. She has 3 daughters at home.  She works 8-10 hours Monday-Saturday, 4-5 hours on Sunday and earns about $10 a week.

These are photos I've taken while documenting the lives of farmworkers in western NY.  This project began in 2002.  This year I've been primarily interested in what it's like for Mexican women working on farms here.

Mexico is such a beautiful country that you just have to shoot color once in awhile.

These are shots from my most recent trip to Mexico, which was March-April, 2010.