Week 14: Monday, November 27 – Sunday, December 3, 2023

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I’m writing to you from my beautiful bedroom in Neblinas, where I am sitting and watching the clouds as they roll over the mountains, bringing with them an ever-changing climate.

This week, I wasn’t actually in Neblinas for much of the time. I spent the majority of this week visiting my counterparts at CONANP in Jalpan de Serra — the closest “big town” about a 3-hour drive from Neblinas. In reality, Jalpan is not a big town. About 20,000 people live there. But compared to Neblinas, it feels like a giant metropolis with restaurants (a variety of cuisines, I might add), stores, and a bus station. When I first passed through Jalpan, I didn’t think much of it. But now that I’ve been in Neblinas for a short while, Jalpan feels like a giant city. It’s funny how perspective works.

Anyhow, our (my and Rayanne’s) trip to Jalpan proved to be quite enjoyable. We left Neblinas at the literal crack of dawn (5:00am) on Monday morning and got to the Jalpan bus station around 8:45am, where we were greeted by Daniel, one of the CONANP employees.

*Side note, when Rayanne and I planned our trip to Jalpan, we were only going for 2 days to relax and attend one event Monday evening. But what was supposed to be a 2-day vacation ended up being more of a week-long work trip.

But in any case, we were met at the bus station by Daniel and subsequently driven to the CONANP offices where we were reintroduced to members of the team and were treated to a 2- hour long presentation about CONANP’s mission and objectives. Although the meeting was unexpected, I think I can speak for both Rayanne and me that we came out of the meeting with a far deeper understanding of CONANP’s work in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve and how we as Peace Corps Volunteers can contribute to and promote that work.

Monday evening’s event was a real treat (and the reason why we went to Jalpan in the first place). The event featured an exposition of photos taken by individuals from communities in the Sierra Gorda that were said to be representative of life in the Sierra. The photos on display were beautiful and poignant, and even more, the event proved to be a great networking opportunity for us.

Tuesday, we accepted the invitation of the museum director to meet him at the museum for a tour and dinner afterwards. The museum, while small, has a beautiful collection of artifacts and is artistically curated to tell the story of the Sierra Gorda. The museum also currently hosts the skeleton of the oldest documented person in the state of Querétaro. It was a great opportunity to learn about the Sierra Gorda and its significance in history.

As I mentioned earlier, the original plan was to stay in Jalpan 2 nights. However, after learning about a CONANP event taking place on Thursday, Rayanne and I decided to stay another couple

of days. So, on Wednesday morning, we packed up our things at our hotel and made our way to the CONANP office to leave our things and figure out our plan for the next few days. But when we arrived, the CONANP team was obviously preoccupied with work, so Rayanne and I decided to go out on our own and explore Jalpan a bit. That led us to the Jalpan Presa, an artificial lake just outside the town that has a UNESCO World Heritage designation for the sanctuary it provides to dozens of species of migratory birds. While beautiful, the presa is sadly facing one of the worst droughts in history, with likely half the water it normally has. Hopefully in the coming year, more rain will come and bring the presa back to its full capacity.

After exploring the presa (and meeting an adorable cat that I wish I could have taken home with me), we headed back to the CONANP office and got ready to spend the night at the home of the director of the biosphere reserve: Guadalupe Sanchez (Lupita). Lupita is a very powerful woman. She has worked for CONANP for 14 years, and despite being only 38, a couple of years ago she became the director of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, where she has worked to completely transform the agency. People say she is an unpleasant person to work with, but in my opinion, they just don’t like the fact that she’s a young woman with a no-nonsense mindset. Lupita generously invited us into her home, and we had a wonderful time staying with her.

Thursday took us to Pinal de Amoles, another municipality in Querétaro about an hour and a half away from Jalpan. There, we attended a meeting hosted by CONANP that served as a closure to a project CONANP funded this year in two areas in the Sierra Gorda focused on biodiversity monitoring. The results of the monitoring were incredible. One of the communities, using camera traps, was able to capture footage of 5 of the 6 big cats living in the Sierra Gorda: Pumas, Jaguars, Jaguarundis, and two others which I can’t remember the names of right now. They also caught footage of a black bear and an albino wild boar! The other community caught footage of an immense diversity of reptiles, birds, and insects. It was impressive to see what these communities were able to accomplish in just 8 months. And this is certainly a project I want to bring to Neblinas. We closed the meeting with a lunch of zacahuil — a giant tamale traditional to the Sierra Gorda. And when I say giant, I mean giant.

On Friday afternoon, we returned to Neblinas. And I just have to say, it is good to be back. When I arrived, the children ran to greet me, and I was immediately reminded of how awesome this site is.

Saturday, I attended my first Mexican Quinceañera! And can I just say, wow. I have no idea how much money was spent, but I can only imagine a whole lot. Between the décor in the church, the two live bands they had play, the food, the set up in the cancha, and the dress the quinceañera was wearing — they certainly went all out. All was beautiful, and luckily the rain that started pouring around 7pm didn’t ruin any of the decorations.

Today, we’re off to pose the idea of starting a biodiversity monitoring group. Wish me luck!

Love, 

Ilana