Bailey's Big Adventure: Cuernavaca, My New Home

So I have been in Mexico for over a month now. I am more settled and still very much enjoying my time here. As I said in my last blog, I was a little unsure about living in Cuernavaca with the high school kids, but now I am very happy to be here instead of in Miacatlán. The orphanage in Miacatlán is the home for over 500 kids from kindergarten to middle school. Once they graduate from middle school, they move into the home in Cuernavaca to complete 3 years of high school. After high school, they complete 2 years of service at one of the two houses to give back for all that NPH has given them through the years. And hopefully, after that, the kids will attend the university in Monterrey.

So, why am I happy to be living in Cuernavaca? Allow me to list the reasons:

- The weather in Miacatlán averages in the 80’s and can reach up into the 100’s! Cuernavaca stays in the 70’s nearly year-round and is known as the “City of Eternal Spring”. It is dry in Miacatlán. Cuernavaca is much more green and rains almost every night here.

- The kids in Miacatlán are all adorable, but I think all the volunteers would agree that the little ones can be exhausting to care for after a while. They are such busybodies that they just suck out all of your energy. The high school kids don't require as much attention and can carry on full conversations. I try to talk to them, but I get stuck on some words or how to properly conjugate the verbs. Most of the kids are really kind and patient with my terrible Spanish. Sometimes they teach me Spanish and I teach them English. There’s one boy who has absolutely no patience and shakes his head, rolls his eyes & I’m pretty sure throws out a few cuss words every time I say “como??” when I have no idea what he is saying. Haha He’s one of those teenagers that is way too cool for school.

- I’m not sure why, but the Cuernavaca home has access to more vegetables to feed the kids in the dining hall. This is very important for a foliage eat’n veggie like me! Whenever I stay in Miacatlán, all I can eat is rice, beans and tortillas (it does some damage to my system…)

- In Cuernavaca, Walmart is only a short ruta ride (bus trip) away! I know Walmart has a bad rep in the US (and rightly so), but it is the only source for many U.S. foods and home items for us volunteers. I have only bought stuff from there once so far, but it will probably come in handy in the future.

- There are only 3 of us living together at the cute little volunteer apartment in Cuernavaca. In Miacatlán there are 10 volunteers living together. Not that I don’t miss you all in Miacatlán…

- There’s a restaurant walking distance from our home here in Cuernavaca that serves vegetarian tacos with piña (pineapple) for 20 pesos! Up the street a little further is a stand that sells delicious vegetarian tamales. AND on that same street, Calle de Universidad, is a panaderia that sells amazing pan dulce. They even sell maple donuts (my fav!... of course not as good as VooDoo donuts, but it will have to do for the next 11 months). I’ll have to give Miacatlán some credit though, they also have some little restaurants on the side of the road that sell some yummy food options as well.

- I love the city of Cuernavaca. There’s the city center just a 20 minute ruta ride away that has tons of venders selling Mexican crafts in the street, the black market ($1 DVD’s!), a yummy burrito place (they have vegetarian options!), beautiful cathedrals, gardens, and old eclectic streets with colorful buildings. There’s just so much to see and do here. I feel like the home in Miacatlan is in the middle of nowhere. I also feel very safe here. Meghan (the other new volunteer here) and I walked to the panaderia the other night and not once did I feel unsafe. I mainly see families and elderly folk. The kids walk or take the ruta by themselves to their summer service jobs every day and no one worries whether or not they will return safely. I am glad to know that they found a safe neighborhood for the NPH facilities.

Okay, I’m done bragging about my new home. We are so spoiled here. :)