A Steep City

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2016--Mexico City to Taxco

We were worried about leaving too early this morning.  We needed to get to the bus station on the south side of Mexico City, and the metro is the easiest and fastest way to do so.  However, it is packed like sardines during rush hour.  Wes got up early though.  We decided it was silly to wait in the room for 1 1/2 hours, so we left at 9:00.  We lucked out.  We caught trains one-after-the-other and had plenty of room by going to the end of the platform and taking the last car on each one.  Then when we got to the bus station, there was a bus leaving for Taxco just 15 minutes later.  Within one one of leaving our hotel, we were on a bus to Taxco.

An interesting thing happened on the bus.  When it was ready to leave, one of the employees took out a digital camera and went down the aisle making a film of the faces of everyone.  If anyone was wearing sunglasses, he required them to remove them.  My guess is that it is a process they use to connect names to bodies if anything goes wrong on the trip.  The trip to Taxco involves lots of dangerous curves in the mountains.

We arrived in Taxco about 13:15.  Thank goodness we had my phone to show where we were.  The bus stopped out on the edge of town, and we had no idea which way to go until the GPS on the phone located us.  Then we could look at a printed map we had that showed the location of our hotel and walk the shortest route.  Taxco has NO straight roads, so it was important to find the best way to the hotel.  The main highway where we stopped would have made a huge, unnecessary loop for us to follow.  Instead, a couple of short, steep allies got us to the other side of the loop.  Because of that shortcut, it really wasn't that far to our hotel. Much of it was uphill (STEEPLY UPHILL) however, and we were huffing and puffing to get there.

We are at La Casa del Laural.  It's a small hotel in a great location--not too far from the bus station where we will have to go on Friday to leave, and not too far from the main plaza in town.  Unfortunately, however, Taxco is a rather noisy town, so I will have to sleep with earplugs tonight to cover the traffic noise.

We were very hungry after checking into the hotel, so we walked to the Zocolo, the main plaza, and found a restaurant recommended for their pozole--Tia Calla Pozoleria.  Pozole is a soup with hominy, chicken, fried pork skins, avocado, onions, and red pepper.  We got one bowl of that to share along with a plate of enchiladas verdes.  Both were delicious, especially since we hadn't eaten a real meal in about 28 hours!

We sat on the Zocolo and watched people for a while after eating.  We saw people having cups of ice cream that looked good.  We got two cups to share--one lime-flavored and the other mamay-flavored.  Both were delicious.

Eventually, we walked through the very elaborate cathedral and then explored a couple of main streets in the city.  And then we stopped at the bus station to buy our tickets for our trip to Cuernavaca on Friday.  Then we returned to the hotel to rest.  The film Frida was on TV, so I watched it while Wes napped some.

In the early evening, we heard some drumming and went to investigate.  It was just next to our hotel.  A group of about 8 young people were dancing choreographed steps to the drumming. It was much like the dancing we saw by the Jump Lords in Guadalajara.  The dance steps here, however, were more detailed, and they had at least 3 different routines we observed.  It was fun to watch them.

We returned to the Zocolo to watch people.  And as it got dark, we bought a cup of corn each from a lady selling it on the street.  It was delicious--in a tasty broth and served with ground chili powder.