Ilana in the Cloud Forest

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...

Hello everyone, Apologies for not sending out a newsletter for a couple of weeks. Things have been crazy busy, and I've been here, there, and everywhere.  The exciting news is that I finished my cistern project! Last week, both cisterns were completed inside and out, their tops were put on, they were connected to the roof, and now they are ready to start harvesting rainwater (hopefully soon!).  It feels amazing to have that part of my project completed. But now it's time for me to figure out how to use the $12,000 pesos that I have left over. It isn't quite enough to build another cistern but it's still enough money that I want to put it to good use. I'm thinking about investing in some good hoses to connect to the cisterns, potentially some native tree species for a reforestation project, and potentially a compost bin so the school can start up their composting efforts again. It's also a possibility that we will paint the cisterns or paint some murals around th...

Good morning everyone! I hope you are all doing well.  I want to thank you all for your support the last couple of months.  I was going through a rough patch and I really wasn't sure what I was going to do to make things better.  Well, I'm happy to announce that after a good month and a half or so of feeling like I maybe couldn't get through my second year of service, I am now feeling good about life and am optimistic that I will make it through to the end of my two years. My completion of service  (COS)  date will be October 10, 2025—less than 1 year from now! I am very excited to know that there is an end point in sight, and I am equally (if not more) excited to see what kind of work I can accomplish in the year that I have left.   (I've also picked up some new hobbies (see coloring below) to keep myself entertained). And now for some updates: The week of October 7, I took a trip to Querétaro to give a couple of presentations at the new trainees' pre...

Good afternoon, my dedicated readers, As some of you may have already picked up on in my last couple of newsletters—and for those of you whom I have spoken to directly—this has been a difficult period of time for me in my service. If I'm being honest, it's been so challenging that I've even been considering leaving service early and finding a job in the U.S. It's not that anything bad has happened, per se. But I've found myself feeling like my service no longer has meaning and that I'm no longer making an impact on my community. I think a lot of that has to do with my own personal feelings of burnout and the general culture of the community of not participating in activities outside of the home, which have made for a challenging combination. That, and being physically and socially isolated a lot of the time.  Well, after speaking with a number of you—and I am so so grateful for all of the advice I have received—I have decided to stay in the Peace Corps and try t...

Hey everyone, Apologies for taking such a long hiatus from writing this month.  I was going to write a couple of weeks ago—in fact I had pretty much written the whole piece—but things got a little hectic, and I never got the chance to revise and send you all what I had meant to send.  September has been quite an interesting month.  I started this month off by taking a trip to Querétaro where I gave a presentation with the Peer Support Network (PSN) at the new volunteer cohort's pre-service training (PST). We introduced ourselves and the PSN, ran a few activities to break the ice with the new cohort, and ended the session by giving the trainees a chance to reflect on their fears, hopes, and goals for their service.  Everyone I met in the group seems super kind and down to earth. I also got to know the new trainees who will be coming to the Sierra Gorda in a few months after they finish PST, and I’m very much looking forward to having more peers geographically close to...