Week 12: Monday, November 13 – Sunday, November 19, 2023

Dear friends and family,

I bet you thought I forgot about you. Well, I certainly did not. I simply got carried away by the festivities of the day. But I’m here to write to you now.

I’m writing to you after what has been my first full week in Neblinas. And let me just say, life here is awesome. I’m already feeling at home with my host family, I’m getting to know the members of the community, and I’m taking in the beauty of the incredible environment I have the privilege of living in. Not much has started yet, work wise. But for these first three months, my work really is getting to know the community and integrating into their pace and way of life.

After arriving last Thursday and having beautiful, sunny weather the first day here, we were trapped in a raincloud (literally) from Saturday through Thursday, which meant hardly any “work” was done — our host families and community leaders thought it best we wait for a sunnier day to proceed walking around the community getting to know people.

But, after a couple of days of sitting inside and simply waiting for something to happen, I decided to take action and go for a walk just up the road (albeit a very muddy road) to start identifying the local flora and fauna. When I embarked upon my nature walk, I was mainly in search of interesting plants and insects, but what happened to be possibly my most interesting find was something I wasn’t looking for: mushrooms! Mushrooms of all different shapes and colors and sizes. I know this might sound mundane to some of you, but I’ll include pictures below for you to see the variability in these awesome organisms.

After my first day of biodiversity hunting was such a success, I decided to go the next day and the next day and the next. Four days in a row, I looked high and low for more fascinating organisms to take pictures of and document.

And after a couple days of doing this, I wasn’t going alone! On the third day, I invited the oldest granddaughter living in my house (Melanie) to go for a walk with me. She agreed and proved to be a great second set of eyes for me. With Melanie I spotted more interesting flowers, insects, and fungi, and learned about which plants are not to be touched or eaten, due to their poisonous nature.

The following day, I had a whole fan club, with all four of the grandchildren living in my house coming along for the walk. I appreciated the enthusiasm of the children as they would shout to me “Mira, un hongo!” or “Mira, una flor!” We didn’t find too many cool plants and animals to take pictures of that day, but the kids’ enthusiasm made the experience all that much better.

Aside from my nature walks, this week, Rayanne and I participated in dance classes at the Casa de Cultura to learn the traditional dances of the town. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we participated in classes led by one of the local women in the town, alongside several school-aged girls (ages 11 – 15) with whom we are now friends. The classes were done in preparation for a performance at a celebration that took place this Saturday in honor of one of the elementary school teachers retiring after teaching for 37 years. So, needless to say, Rayanne and I performed with a handful of preteens and teenagers in front of roughly 100 community members yesterday. I suppose it was a good way for the community to see us and for us to see more of the community, even if we may have made fools of ourselves.

In the end, the celebration was lots of fun! After the formal presentation with speeches and our dance, there was food and dancing, and good time had all around. There was also a traditional Huapango trio of violin, guitar, and a smaller guitar (not exactly sure what the instrument is actually called) who let me join in with them for a song! Quite the introduction to the town, I would say.

Today, Sunday, a number of my hosts children and grandchildren were at the house. My host has 7 children, all grown, all with children of their own (some of them with grandchildren, too). With one of my host’s daughters here from out of town, people were coming and going, eating and laughing, playing and chatting. I’m certainly not used to a lot of people being around, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it the longer I’m here.

In the afternoon, Rayanne and I went to a meeting with the local youth-led environmental group in Neblinas, called Neblinas Vivo. We met with the leaders of the group and discussed possible collaboration opportunities, of which they want us to get started on as soon as possible. While at first I felt a bit frustrated by the fact that there is already a group in the town doing environmental work, the more I thought about it, the happier I was once I realized that there are already people (youth) in the community who want to see a change for their community and their environment, and whom we can easily partner with to get greater turnout at our events and bring more environmental knowledge and action to more people.

At the end of the meeting, the whole group went on a quick hike up the mountain to take in the view of the beautiful Sierra around us. Afterwards, I headed back to my host’s house where I was thereafter told that we would be going to a party! So, after all that, Rayanne, her hosts, my host, and I went to a traditional Mexican fiesta, with another live trio, mole, dancing, and great energy.

Now, I am very tired. But I didn’t want to leave you all without an update about the week.

I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you while I am here. Please know you can always send me texts or call if you want to chat. I may be in a remote town, but I still have internet :)

I hope you’re all doing well!

Much love, 

Ilana