Sunday,
April 8, 2006: 9:35 pm
Hello from Taxco – The City that Silver
Built
My friends Alberto and Elisabeth picked me up early Saturday morning
and dropped me off at the Estrella de Oro bus station at
8:45. We chatted for another little bit until the bus left at 9:15
am. I was riding in a modern, air-conditioned bus on the toll highway
that runs from Mexico City all the way to Acapulco on the Pacific
coast.
In the next row behind me there was a nice couple from California
and we talked all the way. Their daughter is currently studying
Spanish in Cuernavaca and this is the first time that they are traveling
by themselves in about 13 years. They were both having a great time.
They had stayed in a Cuernavaca B&B called Casa
Vamos which was part of a charity organization and all
funds from the B&B go to charitable causes. The husband had
spent some time in this area many years ago and knows the area quite
well. Both of them speak Spanish and they decided to go to Taxco
for the day. After their visit to Taxco they would be moving on
to another beautiful destination: the city of Morelia.
The road from Cuernavaca to Taxco goes through mountainous terrain
and when you turn the final corner all of a sudden you see the historic
city of Taxco sprawling up against the hillsides, with the famous
imposing Santa Prisca Cathedral right in the middle. It is just
an amazing sight, and the 1.5 hour drive from Cuernavaca is well
worth it.
The famous Santa Prisca Cathedral in Taxco
The bus arrived right at the Hotel
Posada de la Mision, my accommodation for the night. The Posada
de la Mision is one of Taxco's finest hotels and its location, right
opposite the downtown with a fabulous view of the historic area
is truly phenomenal. The Posada's reservation specialist Fabiola
Jaimes was so kind to take me on a quick orientation walk around
town. We walked on one of Taxco's main streets past the Ex-Convento
right to the Zócalo, the location of the Santa Prisca Cathedral.
It's a wonderful walk on cobble-stoned streets, past silver retailers
and souvenir shops.
The beautiful view from my room at the Posada de la Mision
After a brief visit inside the Santa Prisca Church to marvel at
the Churrigeresque-baroque artwork Fabiola took me past the tianguis
(outdoor street market) where local merchants were selling anything
from silver goods, handicrafts, pottery items to t-shirts and a
variety of trinkets. Our next destination was the Casa de Humboldt,
so called because Alexander von Humboldt, the famous Germany scientist,
naturalist and geographer spent one night here in 1803. This house
has a beautiful mudejar-style gateway and is now the Museo
Virreinal, celebrating the Viceregal era when Spain still ruled
Mexico and the Catholic Church was dominating people's minds.
View from the Museo Virreinal
Having admired the various religious accessories on display, we
continued our walk down the hills, past various additional street
vendors and further down upon arrival on another main street of
Taxco we grabbed one of the characteristic VW kombi buses that serve
as the local transportation here to get back to the Posada Mision.
The door is open and 3 benches are built into the back of the bus
and people hop on an off as they need. At 3.50 pesos (around $0.40)
the rides are extremely cheap.
Once back at the hotel I ran into the owners: Henry and Elena Berger.
Henry and I sat down in the Posada's
restaurant while Elena had to take care of a number of business-related
things. The Posada's restaurant, by the way, has huge panorama windows
with the perfect view overlooking down-town Taxco and looking right
at the Santa Prisca Cathedral.
Another view of the Santa Prisca Cathedral
Henry is a very gregarious, outgoing individual in his 60s with
a very vibrant energy level and a twinkle in his eye. He shared
with me that his family is originally from East Prussia, formerly
part of Germany, today part of Russia. His mother migrated westwards
during the last days of the Second World War to escape from the
Russians. Henry used to work for Volkswagen and has travelled the
world. At 31 he left VW and became independent. His entrepreneurial
knack came through and, today his family owns 3 upscale hotels in
Taxco and several car dealerships throughout the area. Although
Henry is a very successful man, he comes across as very down-to-earth.
He struck me with his humour and his great interest in history.
During our conversation we spoke German all the time.
Padre Neri, a local parish priest, joined us for lunch. Henry explained
that Padre Neri had baptized all 4 of Henry’ and Elena's sons
and that he comes to the Posada every day to eat. The three of us
had a delicious lunch: Henry ordered a round of Mexican appetizers:
tacos, tortillas, guacamole, salsa. Then I had a sopa azteca
(tortilla soup - one of my favourites), mole verde (made
from pumpkin seeds, very similar to Austrian pumpkin seed oil, another
delicacy). One of Henry's son runs the hotels, while another one
is in charge of the car dealerships.
Henry Berger (right), Padre Neri (middle), moi
With my appetite duly satiated, I was ready for another exploration
of Taxco. I strolled downtown again on the calle principal,
past the Silver Miners Monument and upon my arrival at the Zócalo,
I sat down on one of the many benches and just absorbed the atmosphere.
Families were going for a stroll, children were playing, the birds
were singing, the sun was beaming. It doesn't get any better than
this.
After my little rest I decided to walk up the hills into an area
where there were no further tourists to be seen. The walk was very
steep and I had to stop several times in between climbing stairs
to catch my breath. Sometimes I felt a little unsure whether it
was a smart thing to walk here by myself, but overall it seemed
okay. I safely got to the top of the city were the VW kombis buses
with the destination “Panorama” have their final stop.
A young man in a truck delivering water offered me a ride, but I
declined politely. Instead I started to walk with a young local
woman, who was actually wearing high heels in extremely unsteady
terrain. When I commented on her footwear she said that the women
here are used to wearing high-heeled shoes to walk on the steep
cobble-stoned streets. She went on to tell me that her husband is
currently in North Carolina working and that she is finding the
separation quite difficult.
View over Taxco from up high
Well, the asphalted street became a dirt path, stray dogs were
laying around, and the populated area seemed to come to an end,
so to be on the safe side I decided to catch a taxi for the last
few hundred meters to one of Taxco's most well-known symbols: the
Christ statue on top of the mountain.
A typical VW beetle (all the private taxis here are bugs) picked
me up, the driver took me up a forest road, completely unpaved,
with holes, roots, sticks, stones, anything that would make you
think that only a sturdy 4x4 could get up here. But sure enough,
the trusty little beetle made it all the way up and right at the
end, we went over a rock and I could actually feel the floor plate
lift as we scraped over the rock!
The beetle that took me up to the Christ statue
We had finally arrived at the Cristo - a giant statue
of Christ that was erected about 4 or 5 years ago. The view from
the platform surrounding the statue is phenomenal. You can see the
entire city of Taxco, with the imposing cathedral in the middle,
surrounded by a panorama of mountains. After absorbing this wonderful
vista, I bought a popsicle and hopped back into the taxi.
I was already dreading the descent back on the rutty forest road,
but my driver drove off in the other direction and to my surprise
there was a nicely paved road on the south side of the monument.
But my anxiety wasn't over yet. The descent into town on extremely
steep, cobble-stoned streets was pretty nerve-wrecking. My driver
Javier explained that the beetles have special tires for better
grip, and that it can get indeed a bit hairy here when it rains.
The streets of Taxco, narrow and steep
At one point we encountered a delivery truck which had to reverse
because the roads are so narrow while we had to duck into a side
street so the delivery truck could pass. The roads were so steep
that a few times I thought we’d just slide down the mountain
into one of the houses beside the road.
Javier let me off at the Zócalo where I strolled around
and looked at the artwork and handicrafts for sale. An old man selling
antique photos started a conversation with me. He told me he has
been to Canada and that he loved it. He said that even though he
wasn’t going to sell me anything he still enjoyed talking
to me.
I strolled down the hill past the Santa Prisca Cathedral, past
another craft market to a smaller church where I sat down to relax.
A grandmother was reading to her grandson from a schoolbook in a
very animated way. The boy seemed about 6 or 7 years old and looked
like he was thoroughly enjoying his grandmother's enthusiasm.
Another one of Taxco's churches
Then I walked down some steep walkways, and caught a VW bus back
to the Posada
Mision. From about 5 to 8 pm I started my well-deserved rest
and read a local newspaper. As always I read the job advertisements
and it seemed that most jobs were located in Acapulco and were paying
between 2000 and 4500 pesos a month (between C$240 and $500 / month).
As the sun was starting to set I enjoyed the absolutely phenomenal
view of Taxco and its stunning Cathedral. The mood was almost romantic
as the street lights came on and the city started to twinkle with
little lights.
8:30 pm rolled around: dinner time at the Posada's restaurant.
I opted for a fish fillet with garlic sauce - very tasty. Padre
Neri joined me a half hour later. We had a fascinating conversation
about the priesthood, the Catholic church and the dicey issue of
celibacy. Padre Neri gave me some examples of what he deals with
in terms of counselling issues in his community. He alluded to the
case of a young couple where the young man had decided he wanted
to become a priest but had fallen in love with a young woman. A
situation like this would be a predicament for anyone. Padre Neri
displayed some very progressive views and I really enjoyed talking
to him.
Street scene in Taxco
Just as we finished our dinner, the Mayor of Taxco and the Head
of the Cultural Department were leaving the restaurant. They said
hello to Padre Neri and introduced themselves to me as well. It
seemed like I had met all the important people in town.
After a nice goodbye with Padre Neri I retreated to my room where
I relaxed and watched some TV. I did not pull the curtains because
the view outside my hotel balcony was probably one of the most stunning
views I have ever seen in my life. Taxco has definitely enchanted
me.
Taxco at nightfall
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Mexico 2006 - My cultural immersion
experiment
Hello from Mexico City - First impressions
Hello from Mexico City - A skyscraper,
a little horse and a government pawn shop
Hello from Mexico City - The Zócalo,
the Cathedral, a healing ritual and a university dedicated to a
16th century female poet
Hello from Mexico City - A relaxing
evening in Coyoacán
Hello from Mexico City - Exploring the
Paseo de la Reforma, de Bosque de Chapúltepec and a nice
evening in San Angel
Hello from Cuernavaca - Arrival and
first impressions
Hello from Cuernavaca - Getting to know
my B&B hostess Marta Elena: A true riches to rags story
Hello from Cuernavaca - My first day
learning Spanish and two local icons: the Robert Brady Museum and
the Jardín Borda
Hello from Cuernavaca - A lovely dinner
in a garden paradise
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Las Estacas, checking out orchids and a meeting at El Cafecito
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Lake Tequesquitengo and a visit to the doctor
Hello from Cuernavaca - A conversation
with Andy Grater, local B&B owner and President of the Newcomers
Club
Hello from Cuernavaca - A presentation
about ecology at the Newcomers Club Meeting
Hello from Cuernavaca - Opening of a
South African photo exhibition and a visit to the Palacio de Cortés
Hello from Taxco - The city that silver built
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa - The
famous Palm Sunday Procession
Hello from Cuernavaca - A new language
school, visiting 'Casa Vamos' and an evening with a very sad ending
Hello from Cuernavaca - My most intense
day: more language studies, 3 interviews, a guided eco-hike and
dinner at the Marco Polo
Hello from Cuernavaca - A day outing
to the enchanting mythical village of Tepoztlan
Hello from Cuernavaca - My last day
of school and a visit to Cuernavaca's Spring Fair
Hello from Taxco - An eerie experience: Visiting
Taxco's famous Good Friday procession
Hello from Taxco and Cuernavaca - Interviewing
one of the penitentes and enjoying my last day in Mexico
Related Interviews:
Presenting:
Ruben Córtes from Morelos Trails - Local adventure sports
and cultural guided tour operator, expert on Morelos and Cuernavaca
Presenting: Pablo
Buitrón from Fundacion Comunidad, helping local
women empower themselves
Presenting: Jorge Torres from
the Cetlalic Alternative Language School - Learning Spanish with
cultural, social and political awareness
Presenting: Hermilo Brito
from the Ideal Language School - Making Spanish learning fun
Helpful links:
Mexico
Tourism Information
State
of Morelos Tourism Organization
Official
website of the City of Cuernavaca tourism
|