Weeks 98 & 99: Monday, July 7, 2025 – Sunday, July 20, 2025

Good afternoon everyone,

Wow, how the time is flying. July is almost over, and I now have only 90 days left of my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I truly cannot believe how quickly things are coming to a close. 

The last couple of weeks have been more business-as-usual. Since getting back from Mexico City, I've been in Neblinas, celebrating with all of the students who graduated from their current school and are moving onto the next step in their education journeys; I have witnessed the arrival and departure of hundreds of religious pilgrims who started their pilgrimage from Neblinas to Mexico City over a week ago; and I've been helping to run a summer course for the kids in the community, meanwhile, working on elements of the grant project that I received funding for just this week. Thank you to those who generously donated to my project—I am truly grateful. 

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, at the beginning of this month, I celebrated the graduations of three of the four kids that I live with. Well, on Monday, I celebrated with the community's graduating high schoolers as they finished their time in the public school system and made their decision about what they are going to do next with their futures. I was invited by the director of the high school to sit at the table of honor with community leaders and other local officials, which was quite an enjoyable experience. The graduation ceremony involved the participation of the other grades of students who danced traditional Mexican folk-dances. Being at the table of honor meant getting to see the dancers head-on (as supposed to from the back or the side, which is how it would have been had I sat in the general audience). It's an exciting period of time, graduating from high school. And for these kids, it marks a real transition into adulthood, as some of them may decide to pursue a higher education degree, but the majority will likely seek out work opportunities elsewhere and leave their families for the first time in their lives. It was truly an honor to witness this important lifecycle event.

This week was also the start of the summer course at the casa de cultura. Yuliana (the director of the casa de cultura), Rayanne, and I spent the last couple of months planning and preparing for this summer course, and while we had some concerns about the level of participation we would get, a monumental 33 children in total, ages 6–13, participated in the activities.

Everyday this week, at least 20 kids showed up to the casa de cultura, ready to learn, ready to play, and ready to enjoy themselves for a few hours each day. We entertained the kids with arts and crafts, with games, with books, and with English classes led by Rayanne. 

Next week, starting tomorrow, we will be focusing on activities that align more with my project. We plan on planting flowers in garden boxes to build a pollinator garden that will attract pollinators to the area. We plan to screw the bottle caps onto the painted plywood to finalize our bottle-cap mural. And we plan on doing a few other arts and crafts that align with the themes of my projects: primarily pollinators and recycling. I'm excited to see what all we can get done during the week to advance my project along. 

Yesterday, Rayanne and I sketched out the design for the mural. Today, we plan on painting the design so it is ready for the kids to start screwing the bottle-caps onto. And hopefully, by the end of this week, I will have the final results to share with you all!

I mentioned in the beginning of this newsletter that last week, I witnessed the start of a religious pilgrimage from Neblinas to Mexico City. This pilgrimage or peregrinación has been taking place for over 50 years. It is a journey that takes over 2 weeks from Neblinas, with thousands of people joining along the way to make it to their destination of the Basílica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. It's a grueling journey that requires a lot of stamina, a lot of patience, and a lot of faith. While I'm not sure I'll ever be motivated to walk for 16 days straight, I have a lot of respect for the individuals who have chosen to undertake this journey.

What else can I tell you? Well, like I said, this week is another week of summer camp, which I am looking forward to, despite how tired I know I will feel after this week. On Friday, I'm leaving Neblinas to go to Querétaro to be ready for my flight to San Diego on Saturday morning. I'll be home for a little over a week this time before going back to Querétaro for my completion of service (COS) conference. After that, I'll have 2 more months in Neblinas and then I'll spend a month traveling, and finally, I will arrive home in mid-November. 

I'll keep you updated on the progress of my work once I'm back at site. 

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Love,
Ilana