As I got off the bus in Acayucan, in the South of Veracruz state, I was within minutes asked if I wanted transport to Cancun or Playa del Carmen. Keeping in mind those vacation spots are about a 20-hour bus ride from Acayucan, I was fairly surprised by the question and assumed it must be because I’m a white foreigner. But then I noticed a dozen tour agencies outside the ADO bus terminal, some of which were advertising transfers to the Yucatan Peninsula and various other far away destinations. As it turns out, Acayucan is one of the connecting spots between Central Mexico and the Yucatan.

As I walked through town with my big traveller's backpack plus my daypack, many people smiled and greeted me with Buenos Días or the shortened form, Buen Día. Most people, however, just stared at me, presumably wondering what I was doing there and whether I was lost.

So how did I end up in Acayucan? 

Having been involved in (and passionate about) refugee issues in Australia for the past few years, and also being keen to live in Mexico and work in Spanish, I decided some time ago that I would like to volunteer with Asylum Access, an international NGO providing legal services to refugees and people seeking asylum (in this case, those seeking asylum in Mexico - often fleeing from countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba or Venezuela). The Mexico branch of Asylum Access (AAMX) has five offices, though only three of which work directly with clients in their claims for asylum (which is what I specifically wanted to do). Those three are in Palenque (in the state of Chiapas), Tenosique (in the state of Tabasco) and Acayucan (in the state of Veracruz).

When I applied for the role, I had initially envisioned working in Palenque, which is a tourist destination I had already travelled to, famous for its impressive Mayan ruins set amongst the jungle. Whilst the town itself there is not the most exciting in Mexico, I was familiar with it and had enjoyed it while I was there. The other two towns, on the other hand, I was struggling to find anything about, as none of the Mexicans I asked over several weeks seemed to know anything about them, and they were certainly not written about in any sort of tourist guides. Indeed, a Google search of Acayucan yields almost entirely only pictures of the main square/park (from varying angles), plus a handful of less than appealing YouTube videos. It turned out, however, that AAMX didn't need any volunteers in Palenque at the time, whereas they did really need help in Acayucan - and so that is where I was to go. 

You can read more about my volunteering project, and how you can help, here.

Settling in, in Acayucan

Being the first volunteer to work in this office of Asylum Access (and certainly one of the only gringo volunteers or workers ever in this town at all), I had the tasks of finding out a lot of things for myself and setting things up on my own. Or so I thought... Fortunately, Mexicans are super helpful, even to people they have only just met, and as it turned out I received an enormous amount of help to get myself set up and settled in from my new friends.

Eager to make friends with people with similar interests in my new town (and also because there are no budget accommodation options around), before arriving I contacted the handful of people active on Couchsurfing who live in and close to Acayucan. On my first day in town I met up with two of them (separately) who each immediately took me completely under their wings, introducing me to friends, showing me around town, and helping me find a place to live. After spending my first night in an overpriced, mediocre hotel in the centre of town, I moved in to stay temporarily with one of my new friends and his family - and I ended up spending over a week being completely taken care of at their place, before moving into my own place. 

To me it was quite surprising (in a very welcome way) that everyone wanted to help me find a house, and furnish it, etc. Even if they themselves hadn't even talked to me much, they would all go out of their way to help – calling people they know who might know of a room available; thinking about places they’d seen advertised or where they know someone who lives or lived there; walking/driving around town with me looking for signs; or even just coming along for the ride to view places.

So within less than a week (and after having viewed several options) I had found a great new place to move into, which I did so, after returning from some out-of-town work training. I have a spacious, already-furnished room and ensuite, on the terrace level above a big house owned and occupied by a wonderful family of 4 women (plus an almost-3-year-old girl). At 1500 Mexican Pesos per month (i.e. around 85USD), the rent is cheap, and it meets the desired criteria of the 3Bs: "Bueno, Bonito y Barato" (i.e. good, pretty and cheap - sounds better in Spanish). I've even been able to set up my own little kitchenette in my room. 

Being an Aussie in a local Mexican town

Being surely the first Australian to live in this town (and region for that matter), and one of probably only a handful of English-speaking foreigners to have ever lived in the town (apparently some Rotary exchange students come from Europe from time-to-time), I'm somewhat of a novelty here. Because of that (and the small city vibe generally, many people are very curious to know about me and what I'm doing here.

Australia is a pretty exotic part of the world for many Mexicans - sometimes they're not even sure where it is located on the globe, and are astounded to hear that its so close to Asia. What they do often know about, however, is the prevalence of strange and dangerous animals in Australia - it seems that nature documentaries must be very popular in Mexico! In addition to wanting to know more about the animals, people here typically seem to have a genuine interest in what the weather is like in Australia (difficult to briefly summarise the weather of an entire continent, but I try), along with whether people live in the middle of the country, what type of food we eat, and whether we speak any other languages other than English (the last two also not really straight-forward answers, given the diversity in our country as well as Aboriginal languages, although sometimes its necessary to simplify the answers).

I've been fortunate to find that Mexicans are very hospitable, and lots of people have been keen to shout me drinks, meals, and more, so there's been many an opportunity to share stories and learn about each other's countries and cultures. 

Some of my new realities of life

On the topic of learning about the cultural differences, there are a whole range of things here that once surprised or even shocked me, but which have now become part of my daily life in Mexico. Originally I had included a few of them in this post, but as the list just keeps growing I've now moved them over to a dedicated post on the new "normals" in my life. Check it out --> here <--.