Getting in the ice is like havin a feeling of letting go, like h ving total and absolute confidence that it will be okay.

It's like shock to your body, when you ge [into the water], you feel it, you feel every sensation of cold ess, and after that, you stay calm and go through your day.

I don't know exactly what the wo d is, but there was a moment when I thought, "I'm getting in the ice, I can d more things."

It changes your concept a little that [you had] all your life about getting sick.

In Mexi o, [they say] #Don't go out like that, put on a jacket because it's cold, you're going o catch the flu.# The concept f getting into cold water changes you, [because] nothing happens to you on the contrary, it benefits you much more.

Not a lot of Mexican people live in Vermont.

So, I asked if anyone knew someone in Vermon .

We had friends in common.

I contacted her through Facebook and wrote: #Hey, Tanya, this is Elvira.

Would you like to have coffee sometime?# An We went for coffee one day and talked for hours.

She has been my friend ever si We have been each other#s support.

And yes, we have known each other for a little over 10 years.

There you go.

Yeah, you should be painting.

Yo have space now.

you can set up Ta nya and I do a lot of stuff together, and one day I was on Instagram and saw a photo of Katharine Montstream diving into the frozen lake using somet ing like a floaty, when I saw he doing that, I said, #I want to do that too.# I started following artists here in Vermont.

I make art, and I wanted to see what type of art Vermont had and started foll wing Katharine Montstream.

She is a lifelong artist who paints beautifully.

I starte seeing all her work, and then I saw she had another page called Red Hot Chilly Dippers.

I saw them and I thought, #What a thrill!# I saw them going into the water, wearing wigs and thought what a fun group that was.

Whenever I had the opportunity I would [see their page].

Once talking with Elvira, she said "Hey, I'm following this group."

[I said], "The Red Hot Chilly Di pers?"

She said "Yes, I follow them."

I said, "What if we go one day?"

And she said, "I was thinking the same thing.

What if we go?"

I contacted Katherine and told her that we were her fans and wanted to see what it's like to go into a frozen lake.

And she said, "Of course, come."

One day, Tanya and I arrived and everyone was there, Katharine and her friends, and we felt wel ome.

There were a lot more people trying it for the first time, an we fell in love with the activi y and have kept doing it since.

Water connects me to my essence, I don't know how to explain it.

ater is always something I look for wherever I am.

I love it.

I love having that connection with water.

I paint a lot with water.

Water has always bee like something that connects me to places, I think.

For example, in Cabo, when I go to the sea an swim, I feel like I've already rrived.

And here it is the same.

Getting in here, I say I'm here, I'm already in the cold water.

I feel rooted in a place.

My day changes in an extraordina y way.

You feel full of energy and very open to new ideas, to people, to unde standing.

You become a little more perceptive.

You start listening more.

When I am at the lake, there is a very strong inn r silence because it connects you here to the Ode.

Your whole body is cold.

Nothing is separated from you, you are quite present.

When you ome out of that experience, it feels like it cleanses you.

Then you are open to people, to opportunities, to listen, to have more compassion, to not e afraid either.

You open more spontaneously and naturally, I think, to the people around yo and the level of energy you hav is unstoppable.

Apart from the fact that it gives you a very deep ha piness and feeling of fulfillmen that lasts for days.

Many times Latinos think "Oh wel , I'm going to see who else I know here."

I have always done it.

"Oh, who is Mexican here, who knows who? "

and you get tog ther with people.

But when you open yourself to stran different things that you never magined, you can meet different people.

In the Chilly Dippers, there are Germans, [people from] Puerto Rico, and B azil.

In Vermont, it is not so e sy to find so many people from so many places.

The lake has been here since I a rived.

Now that I make it more a part of my life, I experience Vermont#s nature in a more personal way.

A more intimate re ationship begins because we visit the lake very early in the morni g and sometimes at night.

And we have seen it in the summer, And we have seen it in the winte .

When you are there in the midd e of the nature in Vermont, you get to know this other level of dept that nature offers you here.

The cold water has helped me change perspective, ideas and beliefs.

There is a belief that cold water changes the way you see things.

And it's not the cold water, it# #s the activity that you do with your body that is different, your mind reacts differently to things.

There are very dark days sometim s in the winter.

The sun does no always come out or the weather is too cold to do anything else.

If I'm feeling a little bit own or I need to change my mind bout something, like everyone else feels sometimes, I go to the lake, and I forget a out it.

It is the best way to heal, from depression, or when you start feeling sorry about yo rself.

In just a moment, you forget about it.