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Published: July 17th 2010
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Friday, July 16, 2010
Taxco is a popular town for buying silver jewelry. It's a beautiful, Spanish colonial town that has stone streets and bright white buildings near the town plaza. Every colonial town has a plaza with a church and a "city hall." Near the center of town, it's touristy with lots of shops and restaurants. I wasn't much interested in buying things (if you've seen one basket, you've seen them all; but to each his own), so I ventured to the huge Jesus statue at the top of the mountain. Our guide said it would be a 2-hour walk. I thought I'd see how far I could get in an hour.
On my way up the mountain, up countless windy and hilly streets and stairs, I saw how the majority of the people live in Taxco. And it's not pretty. Most people do not own cars because they're too poor, so they have to carry everything up the hill. And believe me, those streets and sidewalks/stairs are treacherous. White VW Beetles run up and down those tiny alleyways all day long. There's barely enough room for one, yet two cars manage to squeeze passed each other. You
Rene talking to trinket seller
It's astonishing how many children sell trinkets/Chiclets on the streets just have to hope you're not in their way. Seeing so many white Beetles going every which way is almost comical.
This town should be called the "City of 10,000 Stairs." I saw young and old alike carry bags of groceries, 5-gallon bottles of purified water, what had to be 70-lb sacks of rocks (for construction I think), and everything else they needed. Water and drainage pipes ran alongside the walkways. Electrical wires strung up every where. Dogs asleep on the stairs or looking for handouts. Tiny little convenience and souvenir holes-in-the-walls seemed to be in every nook and granny. I can't see how they could have sold enough to stay alive.
I finally arrived at the Jesus statue after only 45 minutes, and that included two I-need-oxygen-badly breaks. The altitude was over 6,000 feet. I had a nice conversation with four sisters (in their 40s-50s) from Mexico. One spoke English because she married an American and now lives in Sanduski (?), Ohio. After enjoying the view, sunshine, and cool breeze, I started back down.
Despite all the bad press Mexico is getting these days because of the drug violence, I had no problems getting around by
myself. And I felt completely safe. Because the roads are so windy and you can't tell where they're going, I had to ask strangers along the way how to get to the statue and back down to the plaza. My Spanish is fairly bad, so I had to rely on lots of hand gestures. Everyone from old to young were more than helpful. Hopefully, the photos are helpful in getting a feel of Taxco.
***
About the drug violence. I haven't experienced anything directly, but of course, it could be happening right in front of me and there's a good chance I won't know what's going on anyway. BUT apparently 3 gang members were hanged from a bridge some where in Cuernavaca, the town where I'm living, last week. From what I can tell, it's a lot like the violence in Baltimore or any other town/city in the States. It's usually gang against gang violence and doesn't affect the general public. Our homestay family didn't even know about it. Everybody just goes on living their lives. Carpe diem!
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Mary Troiutman
non-member comment
Taxco
Paul, Thank you for your wonderful commentary and the great photos of your trip. The church in Taxco is breathtakingly beautiful. I could see myself returning to the church if it meant attending services in a church like that. It would be an inspiration just to be inside. Congratulations on making it up the mountain! Mary