Silver City

When I say Silver City, I don’t mean Silver City, NM, from one of my favorite movies:

Really, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it now!

Instead, I mean the city of Taxco in the state of Guerrero. Taxco is famous for its silver jewelry and it is *the* place in México in which to buy this type of jewelry. We had been wanting to visit and finally just decided to take a day trip there. It is about a 3.5 hour bus ride, so it is a long trip for one day but in the end, we were really glad that we decided to come back. Staying longer would have only meant spending more money!

After arriving at our bus station in Taxco (which was practically just a small house with a large parking lot), we hopped in a cab to take us to the centro of the town. I really wish I had taken a picture of the cab. It was a Beetle and quickly, I realized that all of the cabs in sight were Beetles. This particular one had no front passenger seat. It had been removed to allow more “room” for people in the backseat, I guess? Anyway, so that the driver doesn’t have to wait for his passengers to enter the vehicle in order to shut the door, he ingeniously rigged a rope tied to it so he can just sit in the driver’s side and when his passengers get in, pull the rope in order to shut the door behind them. So creative. Anyway, it was immediately obvious that practically the only type of car that can navigate the incredibly narrow and steep streets of Taxco is a Beetle, hence the reason that it seems to be the car of choice of the local cab drivers.

It really only took us a few minutes to get from the station to the centro and when we got there, it was as lovely as one would expect.

As always, there is a big church in the centro

Gazebo and garden

After walking around for a few minutes, we stopped at a tourist booth to get a map and made our way down to the silver vendors. You can certainly buy silver products in the centro, but they are actually real stores and though their products are basically the same, they are much more expensive than the silver vendors you find a little farther away. I really wasn’t prepared for how mountainous Taxco is. I tried to take a picture to show how steep and narrow the streets are, but it still doesn’t quite do it justice.

Trust me, we got our hiking in for the day

I also didn’t really get pictures of the silver vendors. Many of them were along the side of one of the main streets and all under tarps, so I couldn’t really get the camera at a good angle to show the sheer number of them. Let’s just say that as far as the eye could see, there was silver. Silver bracelets, earrings, necklaces, cuffs, pins, hair clips by the thousands (not exaggerating–thousands). We walked through the vendors on the street for awhile until we discovered that there were alleyways off of that main street as well, and they were also filled with jewelry. We made our way down one of them (not wide enough for one person to walk through at a time, so it was chaotic as well) and then discovered an entirely different building with two or three more FLOORS of silver vendors. It was completely overwhelming.

A picture of part of the first floor of this building

This particular vendor was across from the crazy street of vendors. It was nice to look at her things because the atmosphere was much calmer!

After looking around for awhile at all of the many options, we finally were able to do a little shopping. And by we of course I mean me 🙂

Purchases by lunchtime (some gifts not pictured as to not give anything away:)

We walked back to the centro for lunch and ate on the top floor at a nice restaurant with a lovely view.

View from our lunch table

One thing that really struck me about Taxco is how all of the buildings look the same They are all white with red rooftops and brown trim. It is particularly noticeable because every other place that we’ve been to in México has been a collage of different brightly colored houses.

Still gorgeous!

And because I am feeling a little nostalgic, a shot from what I was doing this past weekend a year ago: graduating from KU! What a year!

Dr. Thompson and Dr. Schubert

“Tacos don’t look like tacos”

Soon after we returned from our Oaxaca trip my mom came to visit! We’ve been excited about her visit for a while now, especially because ever since I was a child my mom and I have always wanted to visit México! I think that 15 (or so) years ago when we were realistically discussing this trip, we thought more of crossing the border by car or public transportation and spending time in the north of the country, but now for many obvious reasons Mexico City is the logical destination.

My mom’s visit was very relaxing. We took our time and really enjoyed the sight-seeing, shopping, eating, traveling via public transportation, visiting some museums (Anthropology), etc.

In front of Bellas Artes

Of course we spent some time in the historical center of the city, and as a bonus we got to see some parts of the Cathedral that are usually not open (Mary E took photo documentation):

Guadalupe’s Chapel

My mom and I walked around Chapultepec Forest and visited the Anthropology Museum, which never ceases to impress.

Mom and the moon temple

We did a lot of shopping, visiting 2 markets: Coyoacán and San Angel. All-in-all we traveled on the metro, metrobús, and in paseros, but above all, I am proud of my mom for tasting lots of the local cuisine. We had mangos, papayas, and pan dulce for breakfast, arrachera, chorizo, enchiladas, tacos, etc.

Also, while dining and overlooking the Zócalo, for the first time we saw the military take down the large Mexican flag that overlooks the centro.

Rally round the flag

From a conversation on my mom’s first night when we visited a local taquería:

[Our order arrives: alambre de bistec and some assorted tacos al pastor and chorizo, to taste]

Mom: These don’t look like tacos! (referring to the small corn tortillas and above meat options, with chopped, grilled onions, bell peppers, pineapple (on the pastor), and assorted salsas and lime.)

Yepts: No, actually TACOS (in the USA) don’t look like tacos!

***

We had a great time and hope that my mom did too. We were sad to see her go, but glad that she got to experience some of our Mexico City adventure with us!