Week 47: Monday, July 8, 2024 – Sunday, July 14, 2024

Hello everyone!!

Writing to you once again from Mexico. 

I'm still not back in Neblinas, but I am safely back in the Sierra Gorda, and I have spent the last few days in Tilaco with Henry and Carmen.

I first have to say how lovely it was to spend the last couple of weeks at home with you all. I truly enjoyed spending time with my family, relaxing by the pool, getting to know my future brother-in-law, and seeing all of your beautiful faces in person once again.

On Wednesday morning, I left San Diego and spent the majority of the day traveling back to Querétaro, having had a layover in Monterrey and experiencing some minor delays in departure schedules. But by evening, I made it to Querétaro and I was greeted by a cloud-filled sky with the sun shining brightly through the dark clouds — quite a beautiful site. I was also greeted by incredibly green scenery, which is quite a change from the environment I was in just a few short weeks ago when I left to come to the U.S. After getting off the plane, I took an Uber to my Airbnb, ordered dinner, and went to sleep. 

Thursday morning, I woke up late, got myself out of my Airbnb just before check-out and sat and worked in a café for the morning and first few hours of the afternoon before meeting Henry Miller at the car that we were both taking back from the city to la Sierra. The drive back was spectacular. When I say there is a difference in scenery, I mean a stark difference. When I left in June, everything was bone dry and we were struggling for water. The rainy season had just started. Now that I've come back, the rainy season is in full force. Driving through la Sierra, I was no longer confronted with dead shrubbery and dying trees, but was awed by the green covered hills and lush forest with cascading waterfalls and rivers flowing along the side of the road. Rivers that had been dry for the last two or three years were now overflowing and transfusing life into the vegetation.

After our four hour drive through la Sierra, we were back in Jalpan de Serra and making our way to Tilaco, where I was to stay for the night. 

Having thought I would be heading back to Neblinas on Friday afternoon, Henry and Carmen drove me down to La Lagunita, a town about 30 minutes away from Tilaco and I waited for my ride to come. 

Now in Mexico, the culture surrounding time is certainly different than that of the United States. But after about an hour of waiting, I started to wonder if that was still in the range of "más o menos 1 de la tarde" (more or less 1pm) — the time that I had been told my ride would come for me. I was assured by Rayanne and some other members of the family that that was indeed still in the range, and that I should just sit tight and wait. They would be there soon. 

Well, after about another hour or so, I started to think of other plans, because although I thought they were coming for me, I didn't want to sit and wait for too much longer, having already waited two and a half hours.

After not hearing from anyone in the family after calling and sending multiple messages, I finally received a text from my ride saying that he had gotten home, that he had passed through the town earlier than planned and hadn't thought to contact me. So what did I do? I called Henry and explained my situation and he and Carmen said, take a taxi and get to the house as soon as you can. And that's how one night in Tilaco turned into three nights in Tilaco.

I am of course so grateful to Henry and Carmen for their hospitality and for taking me in when I quite literally was out of options. I hope to be someone who will take in and care for wandering youth some day, to be able to return the favor.

And while I thought I would be heading back to Neblinas today, it turns out that I will be waiting until tomorrow, Monday, to make my way back. But such is life. And it's pretty darn nice around here in Tilaco. Neblinas can wait a few days. 

Getting back has been and will be a bit of a transition. And I can honestly say that this time it was more difficult for me to leave home than when I first left to start this journey. But I am grateful to have the coping skills and the support of people to be able to make the transition a little bit easier.

I hope to find another time in the next year to be able to come home and visit you all again, and I plan to make that happen at least once more before I end my time here in Mexico. 

But for now, it's time for me to get back to work. I have some cisterns to build and more community organizing to do, and I am excited to see what kind of progress I can make on bringing more resilience to my community. 

Thank you all for reading. I'll see you again soon.

Love,

Ilana

Pictures from my time in San Diego:




 



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