Week 17 & 18: Monday, December 18 – Sunday, December 31, 2023

Dearest family and friends,

Happy Sunday and happy last day of 2023!!

After a week of complete grayness, I awoke to a clear blue sky dotted with a few wispy clouds and the mountain outside of my window pink with the glow of the sun rising from the East. How beautiful for the last day of the year.

Apologies for not writing to you last week. I decided to take the week off for the holiday festivities, and to be completely honest, there hasn’t been much note-worthy activity to write about.

But I didn’t want to leave you out of the loop for another week, so here I am, writing to you again.

So, what have I been up to in the last couple of weeks?

Well, for starters, last Tuesday (December 19), Rayanne and I made our way to Jalpan again to celebrate the end of the year with our counterparts at CONANP. After arriving in Jalpan, we went to our favorite café (really the only café in Jalpan) to drink coffee and eat some good food, and spent the afternoon shopping for gifts to give at the gift exchange that evening. CONANP is an excellent organization, but communication isn’t their strongest point, so we were looking for presents on short notice. But after finding our gifts to give, we found ourselves at the CONANP offices, ready for holiday-party fun.

The party took place in a beautiful cabin of a resort just outside of Jalpan where many tourists go to admire the beauty of the Sierra and immerse themselves in nature. We ate and drank and exchanged gifts and danced and danced and danced until 3:30 in the morning and had a wonderful time. The night ended with a karaoke dance party which was great fun.

Since returning to Neblinas, things have been rather slow. Aside from a few nice walks and visiting various members of the community, last week, all the attention was focused on La Navidad (Christmas), so I helped the family with preparations and spent time with the kids and did what I could to keep myself entertained.

Christmas Eve is the big event here in Mexico, so the day of the 24th, my host, her daughters, and (to some extent) I helped with the preparations: chopping fruits and veggies, cleaning, cooking, organizing — you get the point.

And then after getting most things ready, I accompanied my host family to Christmas mass, which was very beautiful, and I was glad to have participated in the celebration.

After mass, we headed back to the house to make final preparations for the dinner, and slowly throughout the evening, various members of the family made their way up to my host’s house to enjoy pozole, punch, carne asada, and the company of family. The night ended at midnight with everyone hugging and wishing each other Feliz Navidad, kind of like we will do tonight when the clock strikes midnight (or at 9pm when my family on the West Coast watches the Times Square celebration on TV).

So those are the big updates from last week.

This week, more family was around through Tuesday, celebrating Christmas, of course, but also celebrating the return of my host’s son, Rigoberto, who had been working in the U.S. for the last 3 years without visiting home.

So much of this week was spent conversing with the extended family and reading and going for walks and keeping warm because although it’s not nearly as cold here as it is in parts of the U.S., there’s no internal heating, so it’s blankets and lots of layers to keep warm.

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on how this year was. And while I know a lot of bad things have been going on in the world, I can’t help but be grateful. I’m grateful for my health and my happiness and the opportunities I’ve been afforded this year. But most of all, I’m grateful for all of you! Without you all, none of this would be possible.

So, thank you. Thank you for your endless support and care and kindness and belief in me.

And for continuing to be so invested in my adventure in Mexico.

In the new year, I promise to keep up with this newsletter. If you don’t hear from me from time to time its either because nothing noteworthy took place that week, or because there was just too much work for me to find time to write. I’m still not sure how my work will be going forward, but I’m determined to make real change in the Neblinas community. And I can’t wait to update you all about it.

Sending you all my love and the best wishes for a happy and healthy 2024!

See you in the new year!

Love, 

Ilana





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