Originally posted at: FitFunAnd.com

“Yo Cuento Outdoors” is back!

Latino Outdoors is a wonderful Organization that provides many of us Volunteers and Leaders with a platform to amplify the Latino experience in the outdoors; providing greater opportunities for leadership, mentorship, professional opportunities and serving as a platform for sharing cultural connections and narratives that are often overlooked by the traditional outdoor movement. It is a space for the community to be present, share their voices, and showcase how conservation roots have been ingrained in Latino cultura for generations.

My pleasure to highlight Maricela ‘Marci’ Rosales~Outdoor Brands Coordinator for LO.

I had the pleasure of meeting Marci last summer and if I had to sum her up in three words they would be … passionate, energetic and fearless, she is a Force of Nature no doubt!

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

– Edmund Hillary

What are the earliest memories of you in the outdoors with a connection to Nature?

My earliest memory was swinging on a hammock looking up and looking at the two different trees, the sun was peeking through both trees creating shapes and bringing in glimmers of light. I remember the trees swaying and rustling. I would take naps outside because I loved the way the wind and trees made music together. I noticed that the hammock was being held by these two trees and my curiosity convinced me to climb the Palm tree. I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. I like climbing things.

How do you connect to doing what you do now in the outdoor space?

I have a long story. Haha. I will say that growing up I was disconnected to outdoor spaces. I never thought that my backyard was an outdoor space. Schools didn’t go to State Parks or the Angeles Forests, there were no community gardens, and there was a lot of concrete. Los Angeles at the time lacked safe outdoor spaces. My family worked a lot so we really didn’t recreate. I was also bit sheltered because of my disability. I would sit in my room and look at the national geographic books my dad used to collect. While looking at the amazing images in my mind at a very early age, it was something that I always wanted to do but didn’t know how to get there, where to start looking or what would be “my thing”. In my teens, we moved out of the inner city and in the Latino Suburbs is where I realized there was less trash, more parks, and green lawns.  At my new high school, I took AP Biology and really liked it. I was convinced this was the way in to find my calling. When I got accepted to UC Riverside as an Environmental Science Major. It didn’t take long for me to switch majors I couldn’t pay attention at the time. To many things were happening, my dad’s health was declining, I was commuting from Riverside to LA county regularly to help my dad and to work, and I was in physical pain that kept me from focusing on my studies.

Something happened when I switched my major to Sociology/Law & Society, different sociological phenomenon’s, demographics of communities, disparities and crime opened my mind to the world. It blew me away that so many things were interconnected and not one thing moved on its own when it came to our social world. At the same time, I got the help I needed to improve my well-being and got involved in the outdoors by getting a job at the Challenge course on campus. My dreams started coming together in different ways and I loved where things were going. I got into rock climbing and that in itself became a huge part of where I am today in life. Because of my experiences I have become an advocate and invested volunteer. Giving time to organizations like Latino Outdoors, Access Fund, and Nature For All has opened many opportunities for me and the surrounding communities I work with in Los Angeles. I am but one person but my goal is to share what I have with others so they too can benefit from outdoor spaces, access, and wellness. I want them to be volunteers, to get those jobs in the Outdoor Industry and I want the community where I come from to be champions of the land.

What make the outdoors special to you and do you have a favorite hike?

The outdoors is a special place for me because it’s a place to heal, to explore, to protect. It could be your back yard, your local park, and your rivers and forests. I connect while I’m climbing outside. I don’t have a favorite hike but I do like venturing into the San Gabriel National Monument. I really like the Horse Flats Campground area.

How do you celebrate the connections between a Latinx identity and the outdoors?

Some of the folks that venture on outings in Los Angeles are doing it for the first time. Making them relatable and inclusive is important. Partnering with other organizations and rangers to translate builds trust. Making the outdoors relatable is important to celebrating diversity. Bringing in culture and storytelling helps celebrate the identify of people participating.

How do you see yourself “counting” in the outdoors and in the community around you?

In the summer, LO Los Angeles had their first campout and it was a lot of fun. We went to Malibu Creek State Park where we played in the water, went to the visitor center, saw some planets with a very big telescope, and we all made dinner together. On the last day, we talked about the importance of protecting places and picked up trash along the way. Families who participated mentioned their desire to get involved in their local communities; having a voice and amplifying the importance of what they felt mattered to them. To me it’s about leading and having others come into your place collectively using each other’s strengths to make things happen for the greater good. Maybe it’s not huge change but impacts come in all shapes and sizes.  As a woman of color with my experiences I feel inspired and responsible to be a part of change. Not a bone in my body is doing this for the wrong reasons.

Why does what you do matter to you?

It matters because I believe all communities benefit from outdoors spaces, from access to recreate, it creates sustainable communities.

Muchas Gracias Maricela for sharing what the outdoors means to you. I love the fact that you are not just hiking to the mountain but climbing it as well. You are truly a Latino Outdoors inspiration and may you continue to pave new paths on your aventuras Amiga : ).

Everyone has their own story on what they love most about Nature and what keeps them there. What is it that draws you to the wild open spaces?

Fitfunand  … Latina Outdoors.