Taxco

We were up at the crack of 7:30 and got to the bus terminal a little before 9. I bought us two return tickets for Taxco and after three incredibly cursory frisks and a few bag checks we were on the bus. Tay slept a bit and a I dozed lightly and about two and a half hours later, we were pulling into Taxco.

In Taxco, we hiked up the narrow stairs and alleys to get up to the Christ statue. Like my first visit, Tay took photos of everything. I'd promised "charm out the ass" and Tay was suitably impressed. No burros in the street, but still a disgustingly cute Pueblo Magico. Still a great view from the outlook over the town, and Tay convinced me to take a taxi back down.

The town is actually filled with ancient white VW Beatles without passenger seats (people sit in the back row) as taxis, and we jumped in one after inquiring the return ride (a very reasonable 40 pesos). It was a surprising highlight- driving down the incredibly steep, twisting, and narrow streets, dodging pedestrians and other cabs, backing up where the roads narrowed down to one car width, we were bounced around and the experience very like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

The cab dropped us at a small, homey place the guidebook recommended and we enjoyed some beers and garlic roasted rabbit for lunch.After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets, shopping the various silver jewelry stores and artesanal stalls. Tay ended up buying a beautiful black-on-black pot made in the far north close to the US border by indigenous peoples, and it did bear a striking resemblance to the pottery of the southwest, especially the Pueblo tribes.

After much humorous deliberation, I ended up buying a very thin silver link bracelet, which I negotiated down to about $5.50. My forearms are pretty dark now from all the sun, and I liked the contrast of a little silver. Tay eventually decided against the neckalace he was debating, although I modeled it too so he could see how it looked.

We stopped for some beers and micheladas at the pizza place outside of the cathedral, and took in the view of the verdant valley while we enjoyed our drinks before heading back to the bus station. Of course, the bus was late, but at least we got back to México within 3 hours after being forced to watch some astoudingly bad Adam Sandler Disney movie. The encore was a Mexican film about a senatorial candidate which was horribly photographed but also remarkable for the fact that it didn't feature any brown Mexicans except as peripheral domestic. It was mercifully cut short by our arrival back in Mexico City.