Weeks 66–68: November 28, 2024 – December 12, 2024 (See you all in the New Year!)

Good morning, friends!

Just thought I'd pop by to give you a quick update about my last couple of weeks and wish you all a happy holiday season!

So what has Ilana been up to the last couple of weeks?

Well, since getting back from my travels throughout the state of Querétaro, I've mostly been in Neblinas, wrapping up my current project and getting a head start on the second project that I have in the works for next year. 

The weekend after going to Querétaro and seeing the other volunteers at the Feria de Maíz, Rayanne's and my friend Sean came into town to visit us and Neblinas for the first time in the entire year+ we've been in service (no shade Sean, I promise) and to help us prepare for the Friendsgiving we organized for our friends in the community. 

The original plan behind our Friendsgiving was to have a group of volunteers from the Sierra Gorda region to come to Neblinas to a) see Neblinas and b) to provide a space for volunteers to convene during a time when in the U.S. we would typically be celebrating with friends and family. 

Well, it turned out that while all of the volunteers of the region wanted to come up and celebrate, the majority had important prior commitments in their communities that they could not get out of. And so, instead of celebrating with only volunteers, we invited a number of our close friends from the community to come celebrate with us and try comida de gringos ("American" food) that are typical of a Thanksgiving celebration.

On Saturday, Rayanne, Sean, and I spent the better part of the morning and afternoon chopping, sauteing, and baking the dishes we were planning on serving for the evening at our party. 

We made pumpkin pie, green beans amandine, butternut squash soup, mashed potatoes, beet salad, collard greens and garlic bread, along with roasted chicken that we bought from the local chicken roaster, gorditas de maíz (basically corn muffins) and heated up cranberry sauce from a can.

Considering we only had access to a tiny toaster oven to bake the pies, make the garlic bread, and roast the veggies, things turned out pretty well. It was a truly lovely cultural exchange between us and the members of the community. 

The next day, Sean, Rayanne, and I were planning to go down to the river, but given how much work we had done the day before, we were all pretty wiped out, and instead, we decided to take a walk along the carretera to avoid pushing ourselves to our limits. 

Our visit with Sean was truly wonderful. It was incredibly enjoyable showing Sean around our community—as he has done for us in his community numerous times—and seeing the community through fresh eyes. Sometimes after living in a place for a long time, you get so used to your surroundings that you forget just how beautiful and magical a place is. Sean reopened my eyes to just how cool it is that I get to live in this megadiverse paradise of biodiversity.

After Sean left, it was back to life as usual in the community. The week following his visit, I spent the majority of my time writing the final grant report for my cistern project at the high school and visiting individuals and families in the community to talk about the next project that I have stewing.

For my next project, I plan to provide materials to families so that they, too, can build cisterns on their properties for water resilience. Based on the amount of money Peace Corps gives in grants and the amount I spent on each cistern for my first project, I should be able to realistically build 10 cisterns around the community, with the goal of promoting water security in more parts of the community—ensuring that the beneficiaries of this project are spread throughout various families and neighborhoods. 

It is an undeniably tricky situation to decide who does and who doesn't get to be a beneficiary of a cistern. As of now, my list of 10 families is practically full, and I am still getting requests from various other families who are interested in being part of the project. My plan for remedying this challenge is first, asking for more funding from Peace Corps. Sometimes, with special permission from the country director, volunteers are able to access slightly more funding to be able to expand their projects, but of course this implies a longer timeline and Peace Corps' trust in the volunteer that they will be extremely responsible with the larger sum of money that they are receiving for their project. My second option is simply keeping the project small and hoping that by building cisterns across various parts of the community and with different families that more people will benefit just from there being more access to water. If used properly, cisterns can provide a benefit to the entire community by reducing the burden on the community water supply. By capturing rainwater, the water supply is inherently extended and allows for more people to have access to water instead of competing with more people for access. 

In any case, a second cistern project is what I have in the works for the latter part of my service. Once I come back from my travels in January, I will complete the finishing touches of my first project—hopefully closing that project out for good by the end of January—meanwhile continuing with the application process of my second project with the hope of getting that project launched by February or March. 

On Monday, I took a quick trip to Jalpan for a lunch with the Peace Corps country director and safety and security manager at our new consolidation point. For context, Peace Corps has various consolidation points throughout the country for volunteers in the case of an emergency. Before, volunteers serving in the Sierra Gorda were assigned to the consolidation point in Querétaro, but now that there are so many volunteers in the region (7), it was decided that we should have our own consolidation point in a more convenient and centralized location for all of us. It was a nice moment to catch up again with the new volunteers in the region and to get to know Antonio, our country director, a little bit better. 

Last night, Rayanne and Diego (a former high school student who is living in Neblinas for the time being) came over for a movie night. We watched Mamma Mia! and drank mulled wine and made hot chocolate for the kids who live upstairs. What a cute way to close out the year I've spent in the community.

What a year this has been. Right now, things feel like they are going in a really positive direction. I feel that I have a real community here in Neblinas, and, after over a year of living here, I can genuinely call this place one of my homes. While I am very excited to finish my service in October of next year, I am also looking forward to seeing what this year has to bring. I look forward to continuing on this journey and getting through all the highs and the lows, the peaceful times and the stressful times.

Wishing you and yours a beautiful holiday season!

See you in 2025!!!!!!!

Love,
Ilana