Arriba, Abajo, Al Centro de Cuernavaca!

¡Que semana increíble! I couldn't ask for a better first week in such a beautiful and heart-warming place. Cuernavaca has turned out to be such a vibrant city, and it already feels like I've lived here for a few months. So here's what's been happening the past week:

This is the view from the airplane landing in Mexico City (they call it the D.F. here for Distrito Federal). I spent a day in this vast and exciting city with my Israeli friend, Ziv, who just finished a six month journey through South and Central America. We were lucky enough that our paths crossed, and of course we ripped up the town :)

Let me start by explaining the organization I'm involved with in Cuernavaca. Casa Hoy is a socially responsible organization which partnered with IVHQ (the organization which hooked me up in Mexico) about a year ago. They accept volunteers from all over the world who work on various projects around Cuernavaca and surrounding towns, and volunteers can stay from one week up to six months. Right now, there are five of us volunteers, three from Australia and one from Japan. The programs range from child care to environmental volunteering. I will be working as an environmental volunteer, helping out in surrounding communities with several projects. So far the other volunteers have been a BLAST to hang out with, and the Casa Hoy coordinators have been better than I could have hoped!

My first projects are with an organization called La Fundación Comunitaria Moralense. One project involves creating a filtration system and building a cistern in a small town called Santo Domingo Ocotitlán about two hours outside of Cuernavaca. They are also about to start building a museum, which will explain the history of Santo Domingo's water, and will also double as a meeting space for los residentes of the town. Here you can see a cow drinking out of their water filtration system. Glug glug!

So far I have been slowly getting involved with La Fundación, but I will have plenty of time to work with them on their projects, and there are many opportunities to work with other  environmental organizations in the city. 

This is where the other volunteers and I will be staying for a while (beautiful ain't it?!) It's actually the living quarters and office space for an organization called the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD), but they have been very kind in letting us eat, sleep, and relax here!

Here's some other cool things we've done this past week along with volunteering:

 We visited some of the museums in Cuernavaca! Here you can see El Museo Regional Cuauhnáhuac, which was originally Cortés' palace, and is now a museum outlining the history of Cuernavaca. There's a huuuuge Diego Rivera mural there as well!

 This wonderful museum is called La Fundación Robert Brady. Brady was an American muralist and artist who traveled extensively all over the world, collecting AMAZING pieces of artwork (His house has over 1,300 pieces in the collection, including a Frida Kahlo!!)

We worked in an experimental "campo" up at La Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.We helped them fertilize corn and lettuce, and also weed some nasty grass which had taken over a few rows in their lettuce garden. We also pet a deer... (what???)

 We've been eating some of the best food I've ever had. Here is one of the cocineras posing with some of her very palatable platos (enchiladas, ensalada de nopal, frijoles, arroz, y salsa!) The four other volunteers and I also spent a day in Tepoztlán, eating yummy quesadillas in the market, and sipping on some cappuccinos and chocolatey delicious drinks.

 Tepoztlán is one of the coolest cities I have been to in Mexico. It's a "pueblo mágico" (Meaning magical town), and it's hard to deny how beautiful and almost supernatural it feels when walking around. Three of us hiked up to the Tepozteco temple on top of a huge mountain overlooking the city. Super gorgeous, and worth every drop of sweat it took to get us up to the top! Here's me, Jonathon (Australia), and Maki (Japan) enjoying the fresh air and view. We spent the night testing out our salsa moves and drinking some good ole Mexican cervezas.

During this next week of volunteering,  I'll be going back to Tepoztlán to work with another project that La Fundación is supporting, which involves working in community gardens and creating a vermicompost system! Yayyyyy!

P.S. If anyone is interested in checking out either IVHQ or Casa Hoy, follow zee links: 

http://www.volunteerhq.org/

http://casahoy.wix.com/home_casa#!__about-us

Hasta Prontito :)