Mushrooms / Oaxaca
Mushrooms: Sierra Norte (Cuajimoloyas)
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Go with a guide from the community tourism office into the pine-oak forest around Cuajimoloyas and the neighbouring villages. Caesar's mushrooms and chanterelles grow in the rainy season in the litter under oak and pine. At this altitude you tire quickly and it gets cold after dark, so bring warm clothes.
What grows here
Caesar's mushroom (muchomor cesarski), golden chanterelle (kurka), king bolete (prawdziwek), morel (smardz)
Forest: mountain pine-oak forest at about 3,000 m
Season: July–September (rainy season); peak in August.
Rules
The forests belong to indigenous communities (tierras comunales), so entering and picking need their consent, most easily through the tourism office with a guide. Mexico has deadly poisonous amanitas that look like edible ones, so eat nothing that a local guide has not checked. Check your government's travel advice before you go: Oaxaca has a lower risk level than Michoacán, where the US State Department advises against all travel.
About the forest
Cuajimoloyas in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca is a Zapotec village at about 3,100 m, part of the Pueblos Mancomunados community that runs ecotourism. The pine-oak forests around the village are known for wild mushrooms, and a regional wild mushroom fair is held here in late July or early August. Mushroom walks are done with local guides.
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