Tag: <span>Mexico</span>

Redefining Welcome

In January of 2020, my Bard College Master’s of Environmental Policy classmates and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico to learn about community-led watershed management, conservation, and sustainable development. We had opportunities to visit communities, homes, and schools across the state of Oaxaca and to learn from communities, organizations, and individuals …

Todo es posible: Reflections on three years of service in Peace Corps Mexico

As I sit here, in my quaint, modest, rural Mexican apartment (at the same time still bigger than my studio apartment my first year at Bard CEP), reflecting over the past three years of my service with the Peace Corps, many thoughts cross my mind.  Friends made, relationships built with …

Water and Whiteness in Oaxaca

I am one of those oddball people who tend to travel only out of necessity, and feel ready to return home halfway through a vacation. Oaxaca is different, though. The first day I was here I fell in love, and as anyone who was on last year’s Bard CEP J-term …

We Can Work It Out: Working effectively with youth groups and teachers in Mexico

One of the many expectations of a Peace Corps Volunteer, besides learning a new language, a new culture, and which street food vendors to avoid, is to be able to work efficiently in a group setting.  The Peace Corps promotes group work over individual work, which is necessary for project …

Welcome to the Jungle: Realities of a Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

I remember first reading my Peace Corps assignment and thinking to myself, “How is being assigned to an environmental education project in Mexico going to coincide with environmental policy?”  Then I arrived in Mexico and I was told that I would be working in a Biosphere Reserve with CONANP, the …

The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love: My Life as a Peace Corps Mexico Volunteer

By Danielle Salisbury, M.S. Environmental Policy 2016 I got off the plane in Mexico City with a groggy group of new acquaintances I would soon be calling my friends, fellow adventurers, and in rougher times, my support system. I had made it. I had joined the Peace Corps and been …

Let’s ‘Ixnay on the Hombre’ but intelligently… and with love.

Mexico is one of the most bio- and culturally diverse countries on the planet – its future depends very much on the people that lead it. My internship time was split four months in Mexico City and one month in Oaxaca City, working with CEMDA and INSO, respectively. The experience in …

La Vida Loca in Mexico

After 9 months in the US, I was itching to get back to Mexico. Don’t get me wrong; I love the US for things that Mexico is not. But I am a Mexican, through and through. My parents come from Guadalajara, Mexico but moved over to Australia in the early …

I come from down in the valleys

Yes the title is a Bruce Springsteen reference. In June I arrived in Oaxaca to start my internship at the Instituto de la Naturaleza y la Sociedad de Oaxaca or INSO. Nervous? Yes. Prepared? probably. Spanish language skills? Not quite there, but working on it. During my first day I was taken under the wing …