Global Explorations

Sept 2, 2022 – The first cohort of Peace Corps volunteers arrives in Mexico following the global COVID pandemic.

Sept 2, 2022 – There are far worse places to be sequestered for a week of COVID quarantine that this beautiful thematic hotel in the Amealco mountains! http://www.hotelmisionlamuralla.com/

Sept 2, 2022 – A fountain and small hacienda is part of the expansive hotel property. With an elevation of 2,605 meters above sea level, and an annual temperature range from 15 to 20 °C, Amealco gets more rain than most of the state of Queretaro as reflected in the more lush, green vegetation.

Sept 3, 2022 – Nothing quite like staying at a Mexican Revolution thematic hotel. We arrived just in time for Mexican Independence Day on September 16th.

Sept 4, 2022 – It had been quite some time since I had run across a shepherd! More beautiful Amealco photos here: https://share.icloud.com/photos/091dQpNqfx1A1_C6tbM6-vGYA

Sept 9, 2022 – Finally out of COVID quarantine, I moved in with my host family in QRO (Antonio, Gloria, Lolis, Diego and Rodrigo) just in time for Diego’s birthday party!

September 10, 2022 – Queretaro government building decorated for the Independence Day celebrations.

Sept 10, 2022 – Queretaro is a beautiful city with a lot of history. This pedestrian boulevard is decorated with the colors of the flag.

Sept 10, 2022 – So many beautiful Catholic churchs and cathedrals… The Queretaro Cathedral, erected between 1786 and 1804, One of the last works built during the colonial period, which is a sign of the transition between two styles: from Baroque to Neoclassical.

Sept 10, 2022 – What soon became my favorite watering hole in Queretaro, this microbrewery offered an excellent array of quality German-style microbrews with a Mexican flair and the food was excellent! The original location in Hercules, QRO shown here is on the site of an old linen mill, reminding me of many such ruins dotting the New England landscape. http://www.almacenhercules.mx/

Sept 10, 2022 – The 30 minute walk from my QRO home in La Calesa neighborhood to Cevezeria Hercules took me by this beautiful soccer stadium, so I stopped in for a free game of local adolescent, coed talent.

Sept 12, 2022 – A truly amazing Latin American culinary experience! The walk through this local market, open 7 days a week, was always an incredible encounter for the eyes, nose and mouth. Located just a few blocks away from the Peace Corps office in QRO, this market served as our go-to for lunch every day – a multitude of options for freshly-made tacos, gorditas, tortas, quesedillas, and sopas.

Sept 16, 2022 – To say that mariachis are popular in Mexico is a vast understatement! My host family in QRO insisted on this quasi-religious experience one night over dinner.

Sept 17, 2022 – My first visit to the Colón municipality was with the Sanchez family in QRO to climb this volcanic monolith.

Sept 17, 2022 – What mountain climb wouldn’t be complete without a chapel built more than half way up?

Sept 28, 2022 – My first visit to my future home in the pueblo of Colón, Mexico with the Hernandez family. The pueblo and municipality of Colón is named after Christopher Columbus which is met with mixed reviews from the local populace for obvious reasons…

Sept 29, 2022 – Everywhere we go in the State of Queretaro, local farmers complain of poor maiz production due to lack of rain associated with the drought. Maiz is a critical staple of the Mexican diet with corn tortillas served at almost every meal.

Sept 29, 2022 – Jake Engelken and I toured a unique high school that trains it’s graduates in all facets of agronomy and animal husbandry. Very impressive detailed instruction with a multitude of domestic animals from breeding, castration, milk and egg production, seed germination, composting…

Sept 29, 2022 – And no, CBTA has not seen a decline in bee populations. Notably because there is not large scale monoculture farming in Queretaro with extensive pesticide use…

Sept 29, 2022 – Much of my work here will be in the small community of El Carrizal where there are 2 protected areas totaling over 5000 acres where ecotourism and managed hunting have increased need for accurate flora and fauna conservation management. I took one look at this view and decided that I needed a bicycle!

Sept 29, 2022 – My first patron saint festival experience in Mexico. What an experience! Colorful costumes, processions through town, music, dancing, fireworks, and a complete mercado.

Sept 30, 2022 – Our last day during our brief initial visit to our future worksites ended with a feast with Salvador ‘Chava’ Hernandez and family adjacent a maiz field under the pecan trees. I can’t wait to return after ~6 more weeks of training in the city of Queretaro!

Oct 6, 2022 – Our grassroots technical environmental training began in the nearby community of Charape where we learned about local geology, agriculture, flora, fauna, and cultural dynamics.

Interviewing community members in Charape, QRO to better understand how they are being impacted by and responding to changes in weather and climate.

One of the consistent responses during our WWF surveying was the plague of grasshoppers and crickets devastating local maiz and honey production. So Jake and I, as the biodiversity impact team, developed a bat house construction kit for the community complete with Ikea-style instructions! Bats consume as many as 1000 insects in 1 hour of feeding, or ~8000 in one evening.

The final product was complete with colored bat decor courtesy of the local Charape children. In Mexico, you cannot simply buy these houses off the shelf at Home Depot, so we designed it from scratch using plywood, paint, screws, and glue. The local geology is a soft volcanic tuff (soil erosion is a major problem here due to lithologic characteristics and historic deforestation) without traditional cave bat habitat.

Oct 22, 2022 – While in Queretaro, I got to enjoy a concert at the Estadio Olímpico with PCV Alexxa Crosby and her boyfriend, Ruy, from Mexico City.

Oct 25, 2022 – A great couple of days with our environmental volunteer crew in Guanajuato, Mexico near
San Miguel de Allende learning about different compost techniques, native flora, and organic farming methods. https://viaorganica.org/

Nov 1, 2022 – Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a huge tradition in Mexico with alters constructed around town, in offices and homes to honor those that have passed. For more information on the activities in Queretaro for 2022, see https://municipiodequeretaro.gob.mx/festival-dia-de-muertos/

Nov 10, 2022 – Sarah and I became fast friends during our first ten weeks in Queretaro despite her passion for English instruction instead of the more noble Environmental conservation path…

Nov 10, 2022 – 15 new Peace Corps Volunteers were officially sworn in today by Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath the Deputy Chief of Mission for the US Consulate in Mexico. This group (#PCM22) will teach English as a foreign language and serve as climate-change awareness Volunteers. Counterparts, host families, fellow Volunteers, RPCVs, staff, and others were on hand to witness the ceremony.

Nov 10, 2022 – A group photo celebrating the success of the Peace Corps Mexico Language and Training staff in preparing us for our transition to our local sites where we will serve for the next 2 years.

Nov 11, 2022 – My first day at site celebrated with a picture of the most famous building in Colón. Colón is a small, conservative pueblo with approximately 7,590 inhabitants, a semiarid climate and an average elevation ~1,900 meters above sea level making the climate mild year round… More information about the Basilica can be found here:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g7092296-d10632818-Reviews-Basilica_de_la_Virgen_de_los_Dolores_de_Soriano-Colon_Central_Mexico_and_Gulf_C.html

Nov 11, 2022 – Each morning I ride my Mercurio ‘mountain’ bike to have breakfast with my host family at Sonia’s establishment for over 20 years.

Nov 11, 2022 – Fresh squeezed juices, yogurts, and sandwiches are just a small portion of the menu at the Loncheria. We are still working on improving the Loncheria web presence, but if you find yourself in the area, you can find us here: https://goo.gl/maps/iNxqwYUru9vPH2Qn8

A small community of some 318 persons with a history of deforestation in full display. The reforestation efforts begun by the national forest service, CONAFOR, are another one of our goals outlined in the Peace Corps-SEMARNAT volunteer agreement.

Nov 17, 2022 – Working with PCV Jake Engelken, one of our first tasks is to estimate the size and health of the deer, puma and armadillo populations in over 5,000 acres of this desert high-country terrain. That said it is difficult to take your eyes off of the impressive Neogene volcanics in the area!

Nov 17, 2022 – One of the primary goals of these SEMARNAT UMA protected areas in El Carrizal is to promote conservation through ecotourism development. Here in UMA Las Adjuntas, rental cabins are available for weekends with family or friends.

A beautiful lake for fishing or recreation complete with a rainwater collection system, native turkey rehabilitation facilities and power provided by the sun.

Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has prioritized conserving vulnerable natural areas and nearby rural communities with an ecosystem-based approach, while promoting socioeconomic development. SEMARNAT – akin to the US EPA – is responsible for the protection of over 1,700 UMAs in the country of Mexico, representing ~19% of the total territory. On June 13th, 2006, Peace Corps (PC) México signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SEMARNAT which founded the PC Mexico Environmental Program.

Nov 30, 2022 – Don Chava and his son Chava, on their quatro-moto, who manages some 5 UMAs for SEMARNAT in the El Zamorano highlands. Here we are working on our first biofilter project for the cabins of UMA Los del Carrizal.

An excellent option for deer hunters wanting the comfort of double beds, running water, solar power and a central structure for entertainment and cooking.

Some of the views from this property continue to amaze!

Given the rugged terrain, much of our work on the UMAs will be accomplished with the assistance of our four legged friends.

UMA Los Del Carrizal is part of a larger communal ejido with grazing rights for the citizens of El Carrizal and their ~400 head of beef cattle. Jake and I have had the unique experience of assisting in vaccination efforts on two different occasions.

Another ecotourism experience – Jake and I got to explore an old tin mine on the UMA Los Del Carrizal complete with a bat colony.

Sonia Hernandez opened her restaurant on the shores of Lake Soledad 13 years prior. Specializing in seafood and micheladas, Sonia, Noe, Eli, Abby, and More spend every weekend also running this restaurant during the afternoons and evenings.

We were treated to a rooftop lunch at the Black Onyx restaurant in Bernal, QRO in celebration of the end of the semester and the start of navidades by the school principal Elias Camargo.

My host father, a man of many talents, picked up a job nearby laying ornamental stone on driveway entrance. I was able to assist for a few hours to better understand the techniques employed.

PCV Jake Engelken and I were asked to be judges at the UAQ-Colon annual Christmas carol and musical celebrations in english.

One of my favorite dishes here – street tacos with bistek, res, pollo, etc. There is no wrong answer served with onions and plenty of seasoning. Noe (Noah in Spanish), my host father here is assisting his favorite vendor in preparation of some 40 tacos for our family during the Christmas holidays.

We had a family celebration one evening at the family restaurant on the lake – Presa La Soledad.

A large part of the Christmas celebrations in Mexico include large family potluck gatherings with traditional drinks, including atole and ponche navideño, recitations of the rosary, and games for the children.

The children and adults during the posada end the evening with multiple piñatas. And unlike in the USA, adults actively partake in collecting candy when the piñata has broken open.

My horseback riding experience has been a great advantage in serving in Colon and El Carrizal, Queretaro. These communities are very similar in many ways to small town west Texas life, very conservative, country and western. On the left, my host brother Omar and his son Adriel.

The relatively short cabalgata from Colon to El Potrero, QRO ended with a one hour church service and meal for all community members and riders.

Following the Catholic church service, the indigenous people celebrated with dance and music and then paid tribute.

Karaoke-style entertainment preceded the bull riding and subsequent mariachi band.

During and after the bull-riding rodeo, a full mariachi band kept the audience entertained.

I eventually made my way to the most famous tourist site in Colon. A gorgeous Catholic cathedral in the center of Colon and the culmination of Easter (Semana Santa) procession and celebrations in late March-early April, 2023.

Most of our work on the wildlife conservation area is accomplished on horseback as it is the most efficient way to get around the many trails and dirt roads across the UMA.

Flor de Alfalfa (https://www.flordealfalfa.com/) is a cheese and yogurt factory in Colon, QRO with approximately 400 head of jersey-mix cattle. Despite the semi-arid climate, they keep the field green with plenty of well water. The yogurt is excellent as my host mother serves it in her Loncheria restaurant. The cheese in the Queretaro region of Mexico is generally not aged.

Similar to many areas in the Caribbean, Three Kings Day is a big celebration in Mexico marking the end of the Navidad festivities and the time when the children receive the majority of their Christmas gifts.

Environmental advocacy projects here encourage reuse of PET (plastic) bottles in the construction of benches, walls, etc to reduce construction material costs and reduce plastic in landfills or along the side of the road.

My host mother loves hot springs and most here contend that the natural sulfur is therapeutic. So late one evening in winter we all piled into our family pickup and trekked out to the El Geiser hot springs (https://www.elgeiser.mx/) for an overnight at the hotel onsite (apparently the hot springs are open 24/7 and far less crowded at 2-3am).