Oaxaca Bound

You will travel again.

You will set foot on soils with microorganisms unlike any you’ve ever encountered. You’ll sit in front of a menu full of the unfamiliar. You’ll take in all the sounds and smells of a village, feeling alive and not taking it for granted.

I’m thinking of all the times I told myself this over the past year, and now… it’s happening! Out of the country! By plane!

Traveling fills my bucket, so I never expected to see the point where I’d have to spend two whole years with very minimal travel. But I’m fortunate and privileged. To have traveled so much already, and to be traveling again.

This time, it’s a new place for me… Oaxaca. I’ve never been to this part of Mexico before. It has rich indigenous traditions, colorful craftsmanship, some of the country’s highest poverty rates, and an incredible local cuisine.

I’ll be going to work on multiple video projects that capture the stories of farming families in rural Oaxaca. So many of their stories sit at the intersection of climate change, migration, and indigenous rights. I can’t wait to discover what I discover.

The world at large is at very different places when it comes to the pandemic and travel, and I want to move mindfully of that. But I’m undeniably happy to be reconnected with this thing I do that brings me a lot of joy.