Week 4: Future Sight Visit

Ben Schwartz
6 oct 2024
3 Min. de lectura

This week was dedicated to visiting the area where we are going to work for the next two years: the Future Site Visit (FST). We all left on Wednesday planning to return on Saturday or Sunday for the people who’s site is further away. Many people travel out of the state of Querétaro, with the furthest sights traveling so far as to warrant needing stoping in a motel for the night. I've been assigned to the closest sight of them all excluding a married couple that will teach English in Querétaro City. It's called El Carrizal, a ranch with a population of around 350 people. It's about an hour and a half north of the city in an area without cell service. The house has wifi so I'll be able to go online when I'm home! Here's the break down of the week:

Wednesday

My day started by going to a meeting in the SEMARNAT office, or the office of La Secretaría del Medioambiente y Recursos Naturales which is the equivalent of the Mexican Government's Environmental Protection Agency. I'll be working with a SEMARNAT representative over the course of the next two years. In the meeting, not only did I meet environmental representatives but I also saw the other Peace Corps Volunteers that work with SEMARNAT Querétaro present on their projects and final conclusions. Seeing that helped me to understand projects that we might do during service, like teaching, environmental conservation workshops, or building cisterns for rain water collection to name a few. The other Peace Corps Volunteers where able to help give me advice on how I would take the bus to my site.

After, the meeting, I took a bus to El Carrizal. I had called my homestay brother Chava for final directions on how to get there and so that he could pick me up, especially considering that when I got off the bus I would have no cell service. I arrived perfectly on time and was taken to my homestay.

That night there was a first communion party, with a LOT of food (gorditas, corn on the cob that was starchy and more firm than any corn I'd eaten before, pasta salad, fruit salad, bread, drinks, ect.). I felt like I stood out for being an outsider at the party.

Thursday

I meet the leaders of the community or the directores de ejido. We went for a hike and they showed me their property and talked about the ideas they have for projects. I also met with the parent committees of the schools.

That night we sand karaoke, it was so much fun!

Friday

Asomarte, or a magazine focused on tourism in Querétaro, came to do a piece on El Carrizal. We hiked around looking at the beautiful and important landmarks. It seemed like an absolute step towards the success of El Carrizal becoming an attractive ecotourism location.

Saturday

There was a cabalgata or horseback ride to a near by town to celebrate the patron saint day of Saint Michael. Due to the time limitations of me getting back to the city on the same day, we decided that I would go to San Miguel (the destination of the cabalgata) via car, that way I could take a bus from there back to the city with all my stuff. When we made it to the city, I met up with the other Peace Corps Volunteers currently serving in the area, there were five PCVs in total! I made it back to the city at night.

Sunday

There was a party thrown by the homestay dads of another volunteer in training. It was a barbecue where we ate beef, cactus, and avocados. ¡Delicioso!

That's a quick run down of my week! I didn't take many pictues at all, but please appreciate the ones that I've got below!

The staff for Asomarte hiking with us in El Carrizal.