Taxco: Beautiful, But Difficult for Visitors

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015--Taxco

Built centuries ago high in the mountains, Taxco is beautiful, but being a visitor here is frustrating.  The streets are narrow without sidewalks and are mostly 2-way without being wide enough in many areas for vehicles to be able to pass.  The streets twist and wind up and down the hills.  There are limited routes to get from one part of town to another, so there tends to be vehicle after vehicle on each street.  Pedestrians have to walk to the side and sometimes to even step up into doorways for a vehicle to pass.  Vehicles often have to back up to a wider area for an oncoming vehicle to be able to get through.  Besides the difficulty getting around by walking, the noise of the vehicles is a constant problem in the city.  There seems to be no way of solving the problem, since the city is big enough that there are no open areas for trying to re-route traffic while getting it everywhere it needs to be.  Taxis as are Volkswagon Beetles, so that helps a bit in letting the flow to work better, but there are also too many taxis as evidenced by many of those flowing in the traffic being empty and moving in anticipation of maybe picking up a fare.

We had breakfast in the local market, a surprisingly large facility that cascades down the mountainside with many levels between two main roadways.  It's a maze, and it took us some time to find our way back out to the level where we needed to be. 

Today, we climbed and climbed and climbed.  The inclines can be very steep, so it is very tiring.  We had hoped to make it to the top of one of the mountains that has a Christ statue, but it was impossible to know the route.  We finally came to a high dead end where vehicles could not continue.  But there were multiple stair step pathways continuing, and we had no way to know which to take.  We gave up and returned to town.

We spent part of the afternoon at the Zocolo watching people, especially students in their uniforms who were passing through at the end of the school day.  We each got another cup of mamay-flavored ice cream while there.  We left about the time the children who sell items started showing up.  They are a real menace.  Not only will they not leave when you tell them you are not interested, but they will tag along with you talking and further pestering you by tapping your arm if you leave them.

The city is full of silver shops, but we haven't visited any.  Mines still operate here, and artisans have been making and selling silver jewelry, plates, and other items for centuries.  Another difficulty for tourists relates to these shops.  Almost every one has someone outside the door as a hawker trying to encourage tourists to come inside the shop.

After resting a while in the room, we went back out to explore local eating places along the highway through town.  We found several places, but we decided on a small three-table restaurant  in the garage of a family home.  The man and the woman living there were operating it.  They had a spit of meat cooking over a flame.  We ordered gringas, because I have never had them and they are always recommended in the guidebook.  It consists of two flour tortillas which are toasted as cheese melts between the two of them.  Then they peal the tortillas apart and slice meat off the pit to form a layer inside with the cheese.  They slice the gringa into 4 quarters and serve it with salsas.  They were good, but it wasn't enough for a meal, so we each got 2 tacos al carbon to go finish off the meal.  There were 3 salsas, but one, a creamy green one, was the best.  Ummmm!