Week 19: Monday, January 1 – Sunday, January 7, 2024

Good morning, and Happy 2024!

I hope you all had a wonderful first week of the year.

I certainly had a good week. Family from out of town left for their respective homes, and I started to feel a sense of normalcy — a sense of routine.

On Monday, I went on a nature walk with my friend Jair and his brother Tito and cousin Fabian. The three of them make up the founding members of the eco group Neblinas Vivo, which I believe I have mentioned in a previous newsletter, but I thought I'd mention again. Those three were high schoolers when the previous Peace Corps Volunteer, Sierra, was in Neblinas, and with her abrupt exit when things U.S. shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, the three of them formed the group Neblinas Vivo to continue fostering an importance around protecting the natural environment and adapting to climate change.

So the four of us went on a nice walk along the carretera, the road leading in and out of the town, which is surrounded by beautiful trees and other vegetation where it is often easy to spot local flora and fauna. The sun was shining that day, making it easier to spot more interesting bugs and birds and reptiles, which we saw a good amount of. A little while into our walk, Jair and I were standing in some grass, looking at something interesting he had found, when I felt something slither over my foot... A giant snake! Which luckily was not venomous, but it sure did give me a fright and you can be certain that I screamed and made a fool of myself. But we continued walking in pursuit of encountering more interesting creatures, just preferably at a distance.

Tuesday and Wednesday were less exciting. I didn't encounter any more snakes. But I did start up my morning routine again of walking along the road above my house, where I can usually discover interesting bugs and flowers and things.

Thursday, Rayanne and I spent time planning for our upcoming endeavors. Now that it's January, projects and activities are finally getting off the ground, which I am very excited about. Tomorrow (Monday), the students go back to school after almost a month of vacation, and this Wednesday and Thursday will be our first days teaching in the schools — a prospect that is both exciting and a bit anxiety-provoking at the same time. Lucky for us, we have an excellent ally and mentor in Henry Miller, who has generously offered to provide training and resources to Rayanne and I in order to better prepare us for our work in the schools. Henry's organization El Maíz Más Pequeño is in the process of creating an agreement with the Querétaro state government to formally implement their climate change education curriculum, and Rayanne and I will serve as guinea pigs in this process. In exchange for resources and training, Rayanne and I will provide feedback to Henry and his team about the efficacy of the training and curriculum itself to help them better understand what needs improving before they implement it at a larger scale.

January is also the month when our counterpart agency CONANP opens the application for access to funding for projects. And Rayanne and I are eager to get our projects funded. We are hoping to get a community gardening project off the ground as well as a organize a biodiversity monitoring group. And in order to do so, the first step has been to identify individuals in the community who have interest in one or both of these projects. We currently have a list of a good number of people interested in these programs; the next step will be to formalize our list and send the information to CONANP with our application. Crossing my fingers we can get everything organized in time! The application window only occurs once a year, so if we miss our moment, we will have to wait another year.

Friday, Rayanne came up to my house to start working on my garden, which I've been planning practically since the first week we got here. The seeds I planted a month or so ago are finally ready to be transplanted, so Rayanne and I got to work, first, identifying a piece of land where the plants would get ideal levels of sun and shade and good access to water, and then getting started on excavating the soil in order to provide more aeration and turn the nutrients in the ground, which will ultimately make for a healthier environment for my plants to grow. Most of the plants I am growing are roots — carrots, beets, radishes, and chard — which means they will need a lot of depth to grow. So Rayanne and I, with the help of Santiago (one of the kids living in the house), made sure to dig pretty deep to ensure the best results. As we were digging, we also encountered lots of earthworms, which is a sign of healthy soil. I took a number of the worms and put them in my compost but was sure to leave a good amount of them in the soil to ensure nutrient-rich soil for my garden. I'll keep you updated on the progress of my garden as the weeks go by.

To wrap up the week, yesterday, I took a trip to Xilitla, a town about a 2-hour drive from Neblinas (depending on how quickly you drive), with my host Margarita, her daughter Felix, and her granddaughter Tatiana. Xilitla is the closest bigger town near Neblinas, and so many people from the community take trips there to do their shopping and go to the ATM and run other errands. And that was essentially the goal of our trip yesterday: to run errands and take out money for the month and whatnot.

But what could have been a completely mundane trip ended up being lots of fun! A couple of hours into the day, we found ourselves in a dress shop that sold dresses for Quinceañeras. And because Tatiana is 14 about to turn 15, she wanted to try on dresses for her Quinceañera, even though she is still on the fence about whether she will have the party. So Tatiana tried on an emerald green dress embroidered with flowers and beaded with jewels — quite regal. And I tried on a dress — black with pink embroidered flowers — that I had been eyeing and that the store owner said I could try if I liked. The dress didn't quite fit, but even just having it on for a few minutes made me feel like a princess 👑. Would I ever have an occasion to wear a dress like that? Probably not. But if I ever did need a giant ball gown, perhaps I would choose one like that.

This was a really good week. I'm starting to feel at home in my community and with my host family and I'm so grateful for how things are turning out so far. Hearing from other volunteers about their experiences, I think I've won the Peace Corps lottery. Between the beauty of the natural environment and the generosity of the people and the connections we've made with individuals and groups outside of the community, I'd say we have a great thing going here and I'm genuinely happy.

Thank you all for reading another one of my newsletters.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

Love,

Ilana