next 4 years in Cuernavaca

[diumiu]

Hello All, I am from India, I am a student 25 years old, I am going to pursue my PhD in Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Cuernavaca, Morelos. my institute is located in this address "Avenida Universidad s / n. Col. Lomas de Chamilpa
Zip Code 62210, Cuernavaca, Morelos. PO Box 273. Admon. Post # 3 CP 62251 Cuernavaca, Morelos. MEXICO"
I am going on 29th July, I will get 800 USD per month as fellowship, I am going myself only and will stay there single. I have several question to ask one by one
1.Will I get single apartment with internet+gas+electricity+furniture+water within the range of 250USD to 350 USD per month?please tell all kind of possibility within the range of money.
2.Will there be apartments near to my Institute?for example walking or travelling for 20 min?
3.could you please tell me about the weather on August, september, november, december, january, february, march, april, may, june, july? Do I need any special kind of winter cloth for any month?I mean when is the winter there?when is the summer? when is the rainy etc? here in India December, January and february is only very cold so I need woolen cloths etc.
4.So If I get a room within 350USD then from the remaining 450 USD, how much expenses will be needed for food purpose permonth? Suppose I will be cooking myself everyday, I can cook Indian dishes for example egg curry, wheet bread, boiled rice, chiken, turky; How about 250 USD permonth? please give me idea of prices of rice, egg, chiken or pork or turky.
these are my four basic questions, I will be very happy if anyone elaborately write for me. I will be grateful. My great pleasure dear ALL.

US$800 = about 10,000 MX pesos per month.

If you are diligent, you should be able to find a furnished student apartment nearby in the 2500-3500/month range. Ask your department at the university if they have any leads or assistance for student apartments for rent nearby, or check bulletin boards at the uni. Or find another Indian student there and share costs and cooking. Many houses for rent have 3 bedrooms, so by sharing you could each have one for sleeping, and one other to share as a home office, and share 4000/month cost.

Wiki basics: Cuernavaca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cuernavaca doesn't get many extremes in weather. It's called "The City of Eternal Spring". You won't probably need wool blankets at any point in the year. It is the hottest from March to May. Most of the rain usually falls between June and October. If you bring a sweater or two, and a lined nylon jacket, you should be fine year-round.

A cylinder of gas is about 335 pesos right now, and for cooking only (no hot water) it should last 8-10 weeks. If you're careful with electricity, you will be spending another 200-350 pesos every two months. Water for the house will probably run another 60-100 pesos a month. Drinking water (20 liters) will cost 15-25 pesos for each jug. Internet service will run in the 400-500 pesos/month range.

Eggs cost 1-2 pesos each. Chicken costs about 40 pesos /kg. Pork costs about 60 pesos/kg. Rice costs about 16 pesos/kg. Turkey isn't common in my part of MX but runs about the same price as chicken. Typical Mexican bread for the day costs 1-1.5 pesos each piece. A typical MX lunch ina restaurant or in the street will cost 30-50 pesos but the majority offered will be beef dishes. Fruits and vegetables are relatively cheap - most fall in the 8-15 pesos/kg range.

Indian spices are sometimes hard to find in MX. Bring what you like with you. Your food costs will probably fall in the 1500-2500 pesos/month range. You can buy a basic cellphone for 200-300 pesos, and depending on your messaging addictions, another 100-500 pesos per month for recharges.

Good luck.

[circle110]

Only one additional comment to gringoCarlos' comprehensive answer... most spices are prohibited to bring into the country (I don't know why), so if you have the bad luck to get the red light at customs you'll probably have them taken away.

We risk it with spices and so far we've been lucky.

[joaquinx]

Here's a link to The Indian grocery store « points of departure

[sparks]

I don't know where the college is but maybe simpler way of looking at this. I had a small 2 bedroom apartment near downtown for 2800 pesos plus 200 for gas. My school helped find the apartment and yours probably can too.

I could walk to the central market which is cheap and varied ... but even the local grocery stores are reasonable. Then there are the large stores like Walmart and Soriana which are also reasonable

[diumiu]

Thank you very much for your detail Reply, I am simply pleased and
delighted, but I need more information. I am sorry that I gave wrong
amount of my scholarship money, It would be 867 USD, I want to know
about banks in Cuernavaca, How about the rate of interest per annum?
The prices you mentioned I roughly calculated per moth living expenses
and I am saying again to you to correct me please if I understand you
improperly:
p.m Room Charge= 2500 Pesos;
p.m Gas Charge=165 pesos;
p.m Electric Charge=100 pesos;
p.m Internet Charge=400 pesos;
p.m Water Charge=90 pesos;
p.m food= 1500pesos;
Do you think I should buy a laptop from India with 1 year
International warranty or I should buy it from Cuernavaca?Here I have
selected a samsung laptop with core i5 proccessor, 750 GB memory in
640 USD, planning to buy it.
How about the travel and traffic in Cuernavaca and Mexico city?
I just saw news about volcanic eruption in Cuernavaca, is it very devastating?
I dont know spanish, I am supposed to do a course on spanish language
at the University; Do everyone in the road and shop speak English?
I am the only Indian student in the department and I am afraid for that a little, Is there any Indian community at Cuernavaca?Are the people friendly and helpful?Is it safe after the evening in roads?
The room which I will get, what are the basic things will be there in the time?

[sparks]

>>>> Do everyone in the road and shop speak English?

Absolutely not ... you may have to do a lot of pointing at first
You won't be driving so I wouldn't worry about traffic
Lots of English speaking students there for Spanish and should be easy to meet on the plaza in the evenings

The only message board or group I know for Cuernavaca is this one ... I would give it a try
CuernAds : Cuernavaca Ads Email Exchange

[conklinwh]

Seems like $867USD will work fine as about 11,500 pesos.
I'm surprised that there isn't an international school contact for you that would have much of what you want.
Yes, buy the laptop in India as will be much more in Mexico.
Cuernavaca as well as much of the western coast and southern Mexico is located on roughly the same fault complex as California so you will have periodic tremors.
You won't need and won't want a car as public transportation is very good.
As stated earlier Cuernavaca is major English/Spanish training center so you should have lots of people to talk with.
I do remember an earlier post about person moving to Mexico City from India that focused a lot on foods, spices and food stores.

On holiday weekends, Cuernavaca receives a lot of visitors coming in to get away from Mexico City. (On Easter Friday, I saw a news report that traffic on the autopista from Mexico City going to Cuernavaca and Acapulco was moving right along - AT 1 Km PER HOUR !!)

Many student apartments will include some basic furniture, a stove and maybe a refrigerator.

[stilltraveling]

Originally Posted by diumiu

1.Will I get single apartment with internet+gas+electricity+furniture+water within the range of 250USD to 350 USD per month?please tell all kind of possibility within the range of money.

There is a building on Calle Narciso Mendoza a half block from Avenida Universidad that has furnished studios with all utilities and internet included. Last year they were renting for around 2600 pesos. The whole place is full of students from the University and graduate students from the Public Health Institute.

2.Will there be apartments near to my Institute?for example walking or travelling for 20 min?

There are lots of rooms and apartments in that area. Walking in Cuernavaca can be a little daunting. At any given time, you're either traveling uphill or downhill. The whole city was built on the side of a mountain, so there really isn't anyplace flat. You have to keep that in mind when estimating distances. Avenida Universidad has two bus lines that run constantly, so you'll mostly end up spending the 5.50 pesos to shuttle between home and class in the area.

3.could you please tell me about the weather on August, september, november, december, january, february, march, april, may, june, july? Do I need any special kind of winter cloth for any month?I mean when is the winter there?when is the summer? when is the rainy etc? here in India December, January and february is only very cold so I need woolen cloths etc.

Cuernavaca is basically wet or dry, almost always pleasant. Think Southern California, but greener. However, the area you are talking about is called Santa Maria. It can get bitterly cold up there during the rainy season. Right now it's absolutely perfect, but by the fall it gets very cold in the mornings and evenings. The rains will be here around September/October (who can tell anymore, the climate isn't what it used to be). You'll need a good winter coat, something for temperatures under 10 degrees but above freezing. By noon, you'll be sweating and wishing you didn't have to carry that coat around for the rest of the day. A space heater is a must for anything above (north of) downtown.

4.So If I get a room within 350USD then from the remaining 450 USD, how much expenses will be needed for food purpose permonth? Suppose I will be cooking myself everyday, I can cook Indian dishes for example egg curry, wheet bread, boiled rice, chiken, turky; How about 250 USD permonth? please give me idea of prices of rice, egg, chiken or pork or turky.

If you buy your ingredients at the market, you will do fine with that budget. The main market is a sight to behold. You can get anything in the world, though it will take a few trips to figure out where everything is. Much more interesting than a supermarket.

You can get Indian spices at the spice shop in front of Sam's. I don't remember the exact name, but all the cab drivers know where Sam's is. It's directly across the street with a blue and yellow sign. They have every spice I've ever looked for and they have a huge variety of rice, beans and lentils from all over the world.

I should point out that living way up there in Santa Maria can get very boring. It's on the edge of town in a mostly residential area. If you really want to be comfortable and you don't have to go to class every day, I would recommend looking for a place downtown. The weather is much nicer (the "Land of Eternal Spring"(tm) they're always bragging about) and you're a lot closer to the main market and bus lines to anywhere in town. All the university students drive up the rents in Santa Maria, so you get more for the same price downtown.

I hope this information was useful.