Taxco Treasures: Silver, Scenery and History  Taxco, in the state of Guerrero, only about two and a half hour's drive from the capital, makes for one of those magical day trips that combines many fantasies of what Mexican mountain towns should be like - and has excellent shopping.
As you curve round the gully into town, you see myriad spires and steeples through the shimmering heat, as though there were a chapel for every 10 houses. You still see pack mules ambling along, and hunched campesinos in shabby white garb and sombreros - the pace is decidedly rural. Once in town, visitors can enjoy the sight of the local women selling bread, with wide-brimmed hats full of crusty, fresh rolls on their heads. If you opt for a taxi ride, you are likely to get a roller-coaster thrill at no extra cost. Consequently it's a winner on any tourism beat, whether you visit from Mexico City, Cuernavaca (from which it is only just more than an hour away), or Acapulco. It's hard to beat for silver shopping and my advice is to take this pursuit slowly - if you can. If you are aiming for serious purchases, rather than browsing around for a bracelet or a pair of earrings for a friend, don't be embarrassed to take a notebook to scribble down the item and last price you were offered. Often it may be yelled at you as you walk out the door - try to remember who did the yelling. Ask for the card of a shop where you have seen something you know will haunt you for the rest of your life if you don't buy it. Taxco can become a bit of a maze after more than two hours' wandering and you may not find your way back unless you have a shop or street name. Haggle, but be careful. People here are rightfully proud of their wares and don't like visitors to sail through unappreciatively. Sometimes such a glittery overload of shiny silver jugs, chandeliers, chains and endless trinkets can turn you off the metal altogether. In this case take a break and look at some of the wonderful wooden salad bowls in the street stalls. You will often find ones with lids, good for garden luncheons when you want to keep the flies off. But it's not all shopping for silver and crafts, or visiting Santa Prisca cathedral, with its baroque excesses and twirls. There are many smaller churches and little chapels to see, excellent craft markets and stalls, picturesque cobbled squares where you can enjoy an ice-cream or raspado in the shade, and a couple of very good museums. There are quite enough attractions to lure visitors for a weekend, with an overnight stay. You could stay two nights, or three if you take a day trip to Las Grutas de Cacahuamilpa. These underground caves, an endless, prehistoric feast of dripping stalactites and toothy stalagmites, are easy to reach from Taxco. A pesero ride from town makes for an adventure in itself, as you are squashed into a van with the slide doors held wide open against the heat, but with superb ravines and deathly drops apparent millimeters away. When I first went to Taxco for a romantic weekend, my only complaint was that the food was not really up to scratch. I learned to order local dishes (excellent pozole) and forget the pizza and other attempts at keep-the tourists-happy cuisine. A friend from Mexico City who lived in Taxco explained that fresh ingredients that were not from the region are a pain to bring in and keep. Taxco is another world - and should be appreciated on its own terms. Besides, as everywhere in Mexico, breakfasts are great and you can eat your eggs perched high as a bird in a number of places overlooking Santa Prisca's towers. But then we decided to look further afield. The winding streets at funfair angles beckoned one bright and early morning and off we took, past fine tiled buildings, cheerily painted houses and higgledy-piggledy homesteads. We even had to edge around a massive ox waiting in the shade. It was a great hike up to the highway at the top of town, full of heartwarming memories of treasured Mexico and enduring images of its people. By Barbara Kastelein Return to top |
