Weeks 35 & 36: Monday, April 22, 2024 – Saturday, May 4, 2024

Hello, everyone!

This week's newsletter is coming to you a day early because tomorrow I'll be heading to Xilitla with my host family to do some shopping and exploring. But I wanted to make sure I updated you on what's been happening up here in the cloud forest.

The last couple of weeks have been both productive and relaxing. Since my event, work has been picking up momentum, with more projects and more activities piling up. I've started focusing my efforts on the high school, working with the students to help them implement various sustainability projects including a school garden, a bottle recycling program, tree planting, and more. This week, I worked with the oldest students to start composts at their school, first teaching them about the theory and best practices of composting and then helping them start their own compost bins. Hopefully with some funding, we will be able to implement larger scale climate and sustainability projects such as a climate monitoring system and a cistern for water harvesting. 

There are also plans in the works to start a youth environmental club so that more of the students and young people in the community can be involved in climate and environment-related projects. We're hoping to hold sustainability events planned around activities such as community cleanups, biodiversity monitoring, community gardens, murals painting, upcycled crafts workshops, and much more. It's an added bonus for us as well because with more people involved, we can have a bigger and more sustainable impact on the community, as well as continuity of our projects once we are no longer living here.

So that's on the work side.

On the social side, this week I had a super fun visit with my friend Rachel who is also a volunteer, but a volunteer in the English-as-a-second-language program at a technical university in the city of Querétaro. Rachel had the week off in between trimesters and made the decision to come visit me! 




So on Wednesday, I got a ride with Miguel to El Lobo and from El Lobo I went to Jalpan to meet up with Rachel to accompany her back to Neblinas. For the most part, we stayed home and chilled in the shade (per the hot weather) and caught up, but on Thursday, we took a couple of nice nature walks and admired the beauty of the town and territory that I get to call my home. 

There were talks of going to the river on Friday, but due to the hot weather and the crazy hills of Neblinas, we decided maybe it would be better to take a rest day and not risk getting heat stroke. We did, however, go down to my friend Sonia's house on Friday evening for drinks and good vibes. All day, I had the idea of bringing a watermelon to Sonia's house because watermelon is a perfect fruit for a hot summer (?) day, but when we went to the main store, their shipment of fruits and veggies hadn't arrived yet. At first I was disappointed. But luckily, we checked one of the other stores and by chance we got the last watermelon they had. It ended up being just the refreshing treat we needed after a super hot and humid day.

I feel quite honored that Rachel made the trek up here, considering the 7-hour windy journey which you all know about by now and the added layer of the 100º weather we had this week. But it was wonderful to have another friend come visit me up in the cloud forest. 

It's a short update this week, but overall, things are going well and I'm starting to feel much more at home in my community and much more confident and comfortable with the work I am doing as well.

Oh! One other thing I want to tell you before I let you go is about all of the fun animals I've encountered in the last couple of weeks. Now that it's hot out, it's officially snake and bug season! Most people in the community are terrified of snakes or just flat out dislike them and kill them onsight. You might say I feel a bit differently about the animals that live here. I've now encountered 2 live snakes around my house — one which slithered off on its own, the other which I captured in a jar and released into the forest. (Don't worry, neither were venemous species. I was sure to check that before interacting with them). There was also a giant tarantula in the upstairs bathroom of my house, which I captured and released. Some very exciting moments I have to say. 

But for those of you who are not fans of the creepy crawlies, there are also plenty of adorable fluffy pets to talk about. Rayanne's family recently adopted a puppy and the stray kitty that was lurking around their house has now become much more comfortable with human interaction and a part of their family. The puppy and kitty love playing together and fighting over food — great entertainment I must say. I also held a 4-week old kitten the other day that just melted my heart. And I now have a loyal dog companion named Macarena who likes to follow me everywhere, despite not being my or my host's dog (she's the neighbor's dog). Of course, I can't forget about Mishul, who continues to be a very good kitty. 

Okay, that's all now. 

Thanks again for reading!

Much love,

Ilana

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