Weeks 74 – 76: Monday, January 20, 2025 – Sunday, February 9, 2025

Hi everyone, 

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well. 

This has been a busy few weeks, and do I have some updates for you.

First, I just want to give a shoutout to my dad for being awesome and making the trip all the way out to Neblinas to see where I live. The journey is not for the faint of heart and I am truly impressed by his adventurous spirit. More on the details of the trip a little later. 

When I last updated you, I was getting ready to leave Neblinas to go to Querétaro for my mid-service training conference, which took place over the week of January 27. This conference was the first time in almost a year that our full cohort (now 29 of the original 39 volunteers that we started with) was reunited. It was a chance for us to come together and hear about our fellow volunteers' experiences in their first year (and a bit) of service and an opportunity for us to start thinking about what comes next, both in our final 8ish months of service and afterwards. 

Day one started off strong with presentations from all 29 volunteers on the highs and lows of service, greatest accomplishments, challenges, funny stories, and everything in between. 

For the remainder of the training, we heard from various individuals (mostly Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs)) who shared their career paths with us and spoke about their trajectories post-Peace Corps. We heard from individuals who work for NGOs, a representative from USAID, two foreign-service officers on tour in Mexico, individuals who work for Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, and representatives of the Inter-American Foundation. 

All of the opportunities presented to us sounded incredible, and for me, the wheels really started turning about what I could see myself doing in the future. However, I will say that at the stage of service that I am in, I am still thinking more about how to finish out my current work rather than what I am going to do post-Peace Corps. But I know it is very important for me to start thinking about my future soon. 

While I try not to bring politics into this newsletter, I will be frank and say that the change in administration has greatly changed the work that I will be able to do in my remaining months of service. 

On the first day of our training, we were told that the executive order halting foreign aid meant that we were no longer eligible to apply for USAID grants, at least not for the next 90 days. While this was a bummer to hear, luckily, Peace Corps does have another funding mechanism, called PCPP (Peace Corps Partnership Program), which is a crowd-sourcing platform for raising money for grants. After hearing about USAID, I decided that I would try to pursue a PCPP project. (As you all may remember, I was planning on pursuing a much bigger project in this last part of my service: ten cisterns to be built throughout the community at various community members' homes). But, unfortunately, earlier this week, we were told that we are no longer entitled to that program either. All funding for Peace Corps projects has been halted. 

So where does that leave us? Well, lucky for me, I was able to receive funding from USAID and accomplish my first project before the executive order went into effect, which is positive news. I also plan on applying for funding for the second cistern project through the Mexican government, both at the federal and municipal level. This is a much less secure way to get funding, but at least I can give it a try and not give up completely on the idea of my community becoming more resilient to water shortages.

I'm also trying to pivot and reprioritize my goals for the rest of my service. While I will be in Mexico until October of this year, my service unofficially ends in August at my completion-of-service (COS) conference. So that means I really only have 6 months left in my service. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I want to focus my efforts on for the next 6 months. But, I'll be sure to let you all know once I figure out what that looks like.

It was also interesting timing to hear all about federal employment opportunities, which, while I hadn't thought much about pursuing a government job, many of the opportunities that we were presented with sounded pretty awesome. But, with the hiring freeze, it might be a while before those jobs are available to me. Let's hope that once I finish my service, those jobs will be available again. 

So like I said, lots of updates and changes in a short period of time. We will see how things play out after the 90-day hold on funding ends and I'll be sure to keep updating you on my work and my life in Mexico.

But now for the fun part! Let me tell you about my awesome trip with my dad from Querétaro to Neblinas and back. 

My dad arrived in Querétaro on Wednesday, January 29 in the evening and came to meet me at the Peace Corps office as my training was ending for the day. We couldn't have planned the timing better. We left the Peace Corps office after training and went to dinner at a scenic spot with my friend Ellie. 

On Thursday morning I still had a few hours of training, so I sent Dad to one of my favorite cafés in the center of Querétaro where he had breakfast and entertained himself for a few hours before meeting me again at the Peace Corps office. We spent the afternoon that day walking around the historic city center and showing him the sights of Querétaro. 

Friday was an especially fun day! I made a reservation for us to go to a local sheep farm where we got to hold baby sheep and try a wonderful sampling of the sheep-cheese and yogurt products that the couple that runs the farm makes on site. I personally loved the little lambs and watching them run around. We certainly chose an ideal time to visit, as the babies of the year had recently been born.

Later that day, after going back to our Airbnb to shower and rest, we headed out on a mission to rent a car for our roadtrip through the Sierra Gorda. My dad had tried to rent a car at the airport but they were sneaky with their additional costs, and so we were cautiously optimistic about the prospects of being able to rent a car. 

Luckily, things went off without a hitch and we were able to rent a brand-new SUV that was just perfect for the journey that we were about to embark on. 

On Saturday morning, we left our Airbnb in Querétaro, and after taking a few wrong turns and exits on the highway, we got on the road to La Sierra and started our drive from Querétaro to Jalpan.

As you all know from my previously newsletters, the road to Jalpan from Querétaro is not very forgiving, so we were sure to stop a few times along the way, first in Bernal, then in Pinal de Amoles, before heading down to Jalpan where we stayed the night.

The next day, after a nice breakfast at a local restaurant, we took a little trip to the Jalpan presa (or reservoir) where we attempted to kayak and then ultimately found more success in a pedal boat. It was a beautiful day and the water was serene. We were even able to spot a few migratory birds and a turtle or two.

After leaving the presa, we continued on our journey and made it to our next stop in Tilaco, where we were warmly invited into the home of Henry and Carmen. Our first night in Tilaco, we spent the evening chatting and eating a delicious meal prepared so excellently by Carmen. We called it an early night, as we were waking up early the next day to make the drive out to Neblinas.

The next morning, after a light breakfast, Dad and I got on the road again, this time taking the road less traveled to Neblinas. Henry had told us about another route to get to Neblinas, one that snaked around the mountain separating Tilaco from Neblinas. While we did end up taking the wrong turn to start, we successfully made it to Neblinas, and my dad was able to see first-hand the place that I have called home for the last 15 months.

We were able to meet some of the important people in the community—Margarita and Flora, Don Virginio, Belen—and see some of the important places in the community—my home, Rayanne's house, the cisterns I built. While it was quite a short visit, I hope it was a sufficient amount of time for Dad to see my community and get some sense of the life I am currently living. 

We left Neblinas at 4:30 PM and made it back to Tilaco before dark, as planned. When we arrived, we were again met so graciously with a delicious dinner at Henry and Carmen's home.

The next morning, we got off to a slightly later start, enjoying our breakfast of Carmen's famous oat, amaranth, and cacao pancakes and saying our goodbyes before taking to the road again and making our way back towards Querétaro to the town of Tequisquiapan (Te-keys-key-up-on). We drove almost 4 hours-straight out of La Sierra, stopping only once for lunch in Pinal de Amoles, before making it to our Airbnb in Tequis where we spent the night to rest and relax before Dad had his flight back to the U.S.

Overall, it was an excellent trip. Thank you so much, Dad, for making the trip out and being up for such an adventure. 

Thank you all for reading. 

Until next time. 

Love,
Ilana