Novelist Mario Bellatin surrounds himself with his dogs, at his Mexico City office in August 2009. Bellatin is a Mexican writer who has had a tremendous amount of buzz in the Spanish-speaking world in recent years. In a score of novellas written since 1985 he has not only toyed with the expectations of readers and critics but also bent language, plot and structure to suit his own mysterious purposes, in ways often as unsettling as they are baffling.

Hermelinda Corona de Reyes sits among numerous "stuffed" animals in her living room in Mexico City's Santa Maria de la Ribera neighborhood. She and her husband said the animals were former circus animals. They believe animals have souls and that many humans are reincarnated as animals after they die.

Traditional midwife Maria Espinoza is pictured inside her home in a small Tzeltal speaking community near Sitalá, in Mexico’s Chiapas state. Espinoza is part of a group of midwives in this region who attend workshops organized by the Global Pediatric Alliance that focus on human rights and gender equity, and on technical issues about how to recognize obstetric emergencies .

Ready for her Quinceañera celebration to begin, Yaneli Frías stands for a portrait inside her home, where she lives with her mother, her aunts and her grandmother in Catalán del Refugio, Guanajuato, México.

Hairdressers prepare Paola Jasmine Govea Martinez for a family wedding in San Cayetano, one of several remote villages in Mexico’s Guanajuato state where residents suffer grave water problems, including lack of water and groundwater contamination that has been increasing linked to severe illness.

Charles Hall, 62, is pictured inside his home in San Miguel de Allende, in Mexico’s Guanajuato state. In 2005, Hall and family members founded Exportadora Camino Norte (ECN), known for its handmade candles and intricately carved glass tableware and accessories that incorporate designs from across Mexico. The company is also known for its commitment to giving fulfilling jobs to disabled people, like Hall, who was born with multiple congenital disabilities, a condition classified as Moebius Syndrome. Doctors said he would never live more than six months and that he would never walk or talk. Sixty-two years later, Hall has a story to tell that he hopes can resonate with everyone and help other people with disabilities.

Mihaly Basci, 84, visits his son's home in Nyritelek, Hungary. Basci is a Roma Gypsy. Historical patterns of prejudice and discrimination have long isolated Roma communities. The socio-economic conditions of the Roma in Hungary are among the worst conditions facing any ethnic group in Europe.

Antonia Rojas, 13, quietly examines Day of the Dead celebrations in the village cemetery in San Pedro de la Laguna, near Patzcuaro, Michoacan. She clutches traditional flowers, including Marigolds, which are perhaps the most ubiquitous symbol of Mexico's widely celebrated Day of the Dead tradition. The yellow flower is present on every tomb and is meant to represent the light, which guides the spirits home to their families.

Famed Mexican sculptor and painter Victor Manuel Contreras poses for a portrait inside the room where he keeps many artifacts and paintings of Prince Felix Yusupov's family. He intends to convert this home in Cuernavaca, Morelos, into a museum where the artifacts will be displayed.

Hairdressers prepare Paola Jasmine Govea Martinez for a family wedding in San Cayetano, one of several remote villages in Mexico’s Guanajuato state where residents suffer grave water problems, including lack of water and groundwater contamination that has been increasing linked to severe illness.

Sergio Castro dresses the wounds of Wilder Isaías Flores Gómez, 10, who suffered major burns when a big pot of boiling water fell on him as he played with his cousins in San Cristobal de las Casas, in Mexico's Chiapas state. Castro, known to many as "Don Sergio" has been treating people free of charge for over 40 years in and around San Cristobal. They often seek him out since for his gentle and patient approach. They feel that he will understand their language and customs better than doctors at surrounding modern hospitals.

Folds and folds of loose skin indicate the rapid weight loss (26 kilos in three months) experienced in 2012 by Gray Wolf, a U.S. shaman living in Mexico, when the HIV virus began to ravage his body in 2012. Feeling and seeing his once strong body deteriorate was perhaps one of the most traumatic aspects of fighting AIDS, as he felt out of control and near death. Two years later, he is now fully recovered and in robust health.

Covered by mosquitos, Felipe Aguilar, 46, of Guatemala harvests coffee at Rancho Custepeques, a large coffee plantation located deep in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico. Aguilar is among the nearly 120,000 Guatemalan coffee pickers who make an annual trek to Southern Mexico each winter, where they can earn more than they can in Guatemala harvesting coffee.

Sqt. Shilo Harris, with his daughter, Elizabeth, 5, is photographed at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas where he underwent extensive rehabilitation in 2008 after suffering burns over 30 percent of his body when his vehicle rolled over an improvised explosive device in Central Iraq.

A blind massage therapist stands on the steps in front of the massage parlor he operates inside a Mexico City metro station.

Rev. Yukio Saito, known as Japan's "suicide doctor" is pictured at the Tokyo Lutheran church, one of 50 national telephone centers where trained volunteers answer calls from those needing help. Saito started the telephone hotline Lifeline in Tokyo in 1971 to help Japanese people contemplating suicide. Although the hotline volunteers have achieved great success in saving lives, Japan still has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Saito attributes to universal loneliness and the collapse of the family throughout Japan.