MelanieDiiaz

During her stay, Melanie participated in Wayuu ceremonies and learned about their mythologies, as well as the challenges they faced due to the exploitation of natural resources. She felt a deep connection with their stories of resistance and began to understand the importance of preserving not only biodiversity, but also cultural diversity. She returned from La Guajira with a new mission: to promote respect for indigenous cultures..

Here, in the land of the Wayuu people—an indigenous community known for its resilience and its deep connection to the elements—Giulia found an inner peace she had never experienced before. She spent days meditating among the dunes, observing how the wind sculpted new shapes in the sand, and entire nights under a starry sky that seemed to tell the stories of the universe..

After her time in the Amazon, Giulia was drawn to another extreme of Colombia: the Guajira desert in the northeast of the country. The arid landscape, with seemingly endless sand dunes and a vast sky touching the horizon, contrasted sharply with the lush jungles and mountains she had explored. It was in Guajira that Giulia experienced a kind of spiritual rebirth..

It was there that she realized that conservation was not only about protecting the land, but also about protecting the cultures and ancestral knowledge that have coexisted with it for millennia. This experience transformed her perspective on her work and gave her a new purpose: to defend the rights of indigenous communities and to learn from them in the process of conservation..

There are moments when you realize you've spent too much time looking for something else when it was simply waiting to be recognized within yourself.. I have experienced this feeling of constantly looking outwards, as if a meeting, a place, or a new experience could finally reveal the person I wanted to become.. Then I started to listen to that inner voice that I had often left in silence.. She wasn't asking me to change, only to listen to her.. Since then, I've been moving forward with the strange and wonderful feeling of discovering a new part of myself each day, a part that was always there but was simply waiting for me to give it my attention..

I learned to love myself in moments when I feel strong, but especially in those moments when I doubt myself.. It is easy to feel good about yourself when everything seems to be going in the right direction, when projects are progressing, and when the way you look at yourself is filled with confidence.. But true self-love emerges when we also accept the more fragile days, when we allow ourselves to slow down, to not have all the answers, and to start over as many times as necessary.. Today, I no longer seek to be perfect in order to deserve my own kindness.. I prefer to be sincere, present, and capable of recognizing the beauty of my own path..

Nature has taught me a lot about this way of existing.. Sometimes, it's enough to move away from the noise, to look at a landscape stretching out before you, or to feel the air change as the hours pass, to understand that everything has its own rhythm.. Nothing needs to be permanent to be beautiful.. The light changes, the landscapes take on new nuances, the days begin and end, and yet every moment possesses something unique.. By observing this simplicity, I realized that I too could change without being afraid of losing who I am..

I love that feeling of freedom you get when you discover a place for the first time.. To walk without knowing exactly what lies at the end of the path, to let curiosity guide your steps, to look around with the feeling that everything can become a discovery.. Exploring the world allows me to better understand what is happening inside me.. Each new horizon seems to open a different door, each experience offers me a new question, and each question brings me a little closer to the person I want to become..

And then there are the people, those unpredictable encounters that can transform an ordinary day into a precious memory.. I like to get to know someone slowly, to learn their way of thinking, and to listen to what they don't always say with words.. I like it when trust is built naturally, when two people can share their stories without needing to embellish them.. There is a particular beauty in this mutual discovery, in this feeling of meeting someone who is not there to fill a void, but to create a new space with us..