Weeks 100 – 103: Monday, July 21, 2025

Good evening, everyone,

I hope you have been well and haven't missed me too much in my absence.

We have a lot of ground to cover in this edition of the newsletter. It's been a whirlwind of the last few weeks. I'm just starting to feel grounded in reality again.

So let me think, where did we leave off?

I believe in my last update, I was still in the midst of the summer course I helped to run last month in collaboration with Yuliana, the director of the culture house. Well, after week 1 of the course, we continued with a second week of even more fun, painting, coloring, running around, doing arts and crafts, learning English, and so much more. It was a tiring but fulfilling 2 weeks of entertaining the kids and seeing them have such a great time playing and spending time outside with friends. Our summer course ended joyfully on Thursday afternoon with a convivio (potluck) provided by the parents of the kids and supplemented by food prepared by Yuliana, Rayanne, and me.

On Friday morning, I was up bright and early, ready to leave the house and Neblinas to catch the bus to Querétaro. After a long travel day, I made it to Querétaro, where I promptly went to lunch and then to a hair appointment and nail appointment (I've been experimenting with having fun nails over the last few months). After some pampering and dinner, I went to sleep, ready for my super early wake up to catch my flight to San Diego the next morning.

When I say super early, I mean *super* early, because the next morning, I was up and out the door before 4am, ready to catch my 5:45am flight direct from Querétaro to Tijuana. I arrived in Tijuana on Saturday morning at 8am, collected my suitcase, crossed the border, and was with my parents by 9am, ready to start my week under the beautiful San Diego sun.

And that is exactly what I did. The whole week, I spent relaxing by the pool, walking on the beach, spending time with family and friends, and just soaking up the beauty of Southern California. It's hard to imagine that in just 3 short months, I'll get to call San Diego home again after 7 years of living away. I'm looking forward to having a few months to collect myself and my thoughts after this 2-year experience, and I'm excited to be able to do that in such a beautiful place.

Flying back from San Diego to Querétaro the following Sunday, I landed at the airport and immediately took an Uber to my hotel in the center of Querétaro. Instead of going directly back to Neblinas, I spent the week in Querétaro, first, for my Completion of Conference (COS) conference, and then for my immigration appointment to renew my temporary resident status.

Our COS conference took place on Monday and Tuesday of that week. You may be wondering why we have our COS conference so early, rather than closer to our official COS date. Well, before leaving service, there are quite a few tasks to be accomplished, many of which we are expected to complete in the final 2 months of service (pretty much now until we leave service). Before finishing service, we are expected to write our Description of Service document (a document that serves as official proof of completion of Peace Corps service), submit a report to our institutional counterparts, finalize reporting on all activities completed during service, along with a laundry list of forms to sign and things to do.

Another reason why we have our COS conference now instead of at the end of service is because not all volunteers leave service at the same time. Rather than all volunteers closing service at the same time, volunteers select from a set of dates that are convenient for volunteers and staff alike, to ease the amount of paperwork that staff have to do on any given date and allow for volunteers to leave service when they feel the timing is right (within the 30-day timeframe, of course).

It was an interesting experience, sharing space with the group of volunteers with whom I started service 2 years ago. Our group has certainly changed over the course of 2 years. While we were 39 individuals coming into service, we will be leaving service as 24 volunteers. Why so many fewer volunteers? Well, for a variety of reasons, over the last 2 years volunteers have either decided to or Peace Corps has required volunteers to leave service early. With 15 members of our original group missing, there was certainly a noticeable difference in group dynamics. But regardless of who made it to the end and who didn't, I'm incredibly proud of each and every volunteer whom I started service with.

After the COS conference, I stuck around Querétaro for a couple of days to be able to go to my immigration appointment on Thursday morning. I was nervous going into my appointment after hearing from other volunteers that the Querétaro immigration office was being particularly picky and even going as far as denying individuals another year of residency. (Don't worry, they still had their residencies renewed, they just had to go back to the office for a second time to complete the process). Luckily, everything went smoothly for me at the immigration, and I walked away with my new residency card in hand.

Friday morning, I left Querétaro and made my way back to La Sierra. Rather than going directly to Neblinas, I spent a couple of days with Henry and Carmen in Tilaco and had a very lovely stay before getting a ride back to Neblinas with Henry on Sunday afternoon.

When I arrived in Neblinas, I was greeted by lots of smiling faces, which was so lovely. Margarita as well as a number of her children and grandchildren were at the house, enjoying their Sunday afternoon as a family. They received me with open arms and excitement after having been gone for over 2 weeks. I was also greeted by a pleasant surprise: a second kitty who decided to make our home his home. Mishu seems to be happy to have a friend, and it's so cute to see the two of them together.

You might be thinking, "We've already covered a lot of ground in this newsletter," but the saga isn't over yet.

This past week, I was back in Neblinas. But it wasn't a typical week for me. My friend Luis who I met in Querétaro back at the beginning of my training in 2023 made the bold decision to take the bus all the way from Mexico City to Neblinas to come visit me in my pueblito. Practically since meeting me, Luis has been talking about how much he'd love to come visit me in Neblinas, and just this past week, he finally made the trip happen!

After an 8-hour night bus from Mexico City to El Lobo and then a trip with Miguel to Xilitla to pass the time, Luis made it to Neblinas on Monday afternoon and spent the whole week until Friday morning exploring Neblinas with me.

On Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning we mostly rested (Luis being exhausted after his long journey), but we did get the chance to go on a nice walk around the community and spend time with Rayanne too. I even had the chance to get some work done on my project, screwing bottle caps onto the mural. I'm not sure exactly how many bottle caps fit on the mural, but it must be upwards of 1,000 because after screwing in 100 caps, it seemed to have barely made a dent on the number of caps we need to secure. But, that's work for this week and the next.

On Wednesday morning, Luis and I took a walk on the carretera and then went home and made lunch and rested up for the afternoon. In the evening we went down to Rayanne's house for dinner and then hiked our way up to my house to get a good night's sleep before the big activity on Thursday.

As promised, on Thursday, Luis and I went down to the beautiful Tancuilín River located about 45 minutes below Neblinas. As you all know, I've been down to the river a number of times during my tenure in Neblinas. The hike never seems to get any easier, but the river was as beautiful as always. I know it was a real treat for Luis to spend time in nature, especially in a place as secluded and protected as the river. We spent a few hours sunbathing on some rocks in the middle of the river before hiking back up and getting ready for dinner at Flora's house.

Rayanne accompanied Luis and me to dinner at Flora's house, where we spent a few hours eating and chatting. We then went for dessert at a small snack shop next to my house and chatted more before saying our goodbyes.

Thursday night was the last time Rayanne and I were in Neblinas together. It may come as a surprise, but Rayanne made the decision to leave service early for health reasons, and, in fact, she's leaving Neblinas tomorrow morning for the last time. I'm grateful to have had a site partner for the last 2 years, and I'm grateful to Rayanne for being someone I could turn to during tough times. Only she and I will know what it was like to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers in Neblinas during this time and I wish her only the best in her future endeavors.

After saying our goodbyes, Luis and I went to bed in an attempt to get enough sleep for our super early morning the next day.

Less than one week back in Neblinas and I was already ready to take another trip across the state to the city, this time to celebrate my friends Rachel and Kay who celebrated their commitment to each other, surrounded by family and friends. It was a beautiful celebration, one that I was honored to be a part of.

I'm happy to say that I am finally back in the Sierra Gorda after a few weeks of here, there, and everywhere. I'll be spending the night in Jalpan, but tomorrow morning, I'll be getting a ride back to Neblinas where I hope to be for the next 2 months.

As I said earlier, it's truly amazing to me that my service is almost done. It still doesn't feel real, but I know over the next couple of months, it will hit me. After seeing Rayanne say her goodbyes, I've now started thinking about how to say goodbye to a community and an experience that has had such an impact on me as a person and my life.

There's more to come, but as always, I am so grateful to all of you for being there for me and for caring so much.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Love,
Ilana