"Tourism" is a series that explores the aesthetic of local and foreign tourism in Mexico. The essay covers a diverse array of locations and tourist destinations from Spring Break in Can Cun, Easter Week in Puerto Escondido Oaxaca, to the Mexico City double-decker tour bus. As a traveler who is part Mexican and part foreign tourist this theme has always fascinated me. Here is my take.

Women have wrestled for over 70 years in Mexico, from its inception female wrestling became a very popular mainstream sport. In later years it was banned from television for being to violent (only to be reinstated shortly after). As of 7 years ago Women wrestling lost all official support, the main wrestling association in Mexico felt that insurance, retirement payments, and other benefits were too costly. These photographs show how despite the difficult times, women wrestling is still a well attended and much loved sport. These wrestlers often tour in the US and in Japan, they are mothers and wives (Diabolica is married to ?El Rey Bucanero? a well known Mexican wrestler). Some have been in the ring for many decades and they are very far from throwing in the towel.

THE MAGIC MARKET written by Kurt Hollander Want to dominate that beautiful woman who has always given you the cold shoulder? Need to find a job or get some cash quick? Want your clients to pay on time? Is your husband chasing after any woman he can get his hands on? Has someone cursed you with the 'evil eye' or stolen your soul? Stop worrying, there's a magical cure for you here in Mexico City in the largest witchcraft market in the world. The Mercado de Sonora, inaugurated on September 23, 1957 and located within the commercial center of Mexico City, is divided into three major sections. In one section of the market are sold hundreds of colorful, plastic toys, while in another all kinds of animals, from dogs and cats to exotic snakes, lizards, scorpions, spiders, and even some illegally hunted species, are for sale. The Sonora Market, however, is best known for the dozens of brujas and brujos (female and male witches), chamanes (shamans) and santeros (priests of the African-based santería) who attend clients within the market. Working out of stalls, many of them the size of a large closet, these healers perform limpias (spiritual cleansings), healing rituals, initiations and predictions. All the materials needed for these and other ritual practices are sold in the hundreds of small botánicas within the Sonora Market, while the birds used in the ritual sacrifices can be bought live and squawking a few yards away. So the next time you're sick, fed up with your bad luck, suffering from spiritual malaise, in need of some sexual healing, or just want to indulge in some good old-fashioned revenge, just head over to the Sonora Market, one of the world's largest one-stop-shopping for witchcraft, santería and traditional indigenous healing.

These photos are an ongoing series shot during night bike rides and cantina pit stops throughout Mexico City.

Santa Martha Acatitla is the relatively new (three year old) high security women's prison in Mexico City. It replaces the previous women's prisons and in some aspects is relatively progressive; children can live with their mothers until the age of 6, same sex conjugal visits were recently leagalized, education and drug rehabilitation programs are available to whomever chooses, those with HIV are no longer isolated but now join the rest of the prison population, prisoners (unless recently punished) are allowed to roam the prison grounds freely throughout the day etc. Despite this, their are many sad and desperate stories; women who have been improsened for years for having stolen a chocolate, prisoners who have been there for as long as 6 years and are still awaiting trial. These are some photographs from two visits, the begining of an ongoing project.

El Salvador has experienced more killings in the past 12 years of ¨peace¨ than it did during its 15 year war. Much of the violence is atributed to its many gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha, 18, and 13, and more recently to the ¨Sombra Negra" an unoficial militia which is used by both the private sector and the government to rid the streets of gangs. They do this with torture, often mutilating the bodies before murdering and publicly displaying them. Women usually end up in gangs from broken and violent homes, many of them have children by their fathers or step-fathers and the gangs at first offer refuge from their homes. Soon they find themselves in a world of unimaginable violence. In prison they discover the childhood they were robbed of where many are serving over 20 years for homicide.

The conservative Salvadorean government's solution to putting an end to gang violence in El Salvador is "Mano Dura" a policy which has led to mass incarcerations and offers little in terms of rehabilitation. Since its inception, the murder rate has increased. Two organizations who use different grass-roots methods to achieve the same goals are Father Antonio Rodriguez's Centro de Formación y Orientación which offers profesional training, tattoo removal, medical treatment, sex education, as well as neighbourhood improvement programs. The father does not incorporate religios doctrines in his rehabilitation programs and offers help to anyone and all who need it no questions asked. Hommies International is a group of gang members who are no longer active in violence "calmados". Who offer a helping hand to those who want to leave behinde violence and wish to incorporate themselves back into society. Hommies works together with other organizations like the Father´s.