Taxco!

Hi everybody! This weekend was so amazing! We visited Taxco, the silver capital of Mexico, which meant LOTS of shopping for jewelry. My FAVORITE kind of shopping :)

So we got to the bus stop on Saturday at 9:45 and we were supposed to leave at 10:10. Unfortunately, the bus only runs every hour from Cuernavaca to Taxco, and the 10:10 and 11:10 busses were sold out. So, we had to decide if we wanted to go at 12:10, or if we wanted to buy tickets for Sunday instead. We all really wanted to go that day, though, so we bought our tickets for 12:10 and walked around el centro. One of the girls had done something to her toenail the night before (she stubbed her toe and... well, it didn't look bad at all, but it's kind of gross to talk about), so we went to the pharmacy to get some gauze, tape, and iodine aand then we walked down to el centro (it was really close) and sat on some benches while another girl cleaned it and wrapped it for her. Then we walked around the black market for a while. I didn't buy anything, and they even had Twilight on DVD. But I don't like to support things like that. I'm not trying to be high-and-mighty or anything, but I really like to support the artists of music and movies and stuff, and I don't exactly feel comfortable with illegal activities, either. But it was interesting to see it. They had everything imaginable there, from Abercrombie and Fitch to portable phones. It was crazy.

It was finally time to get on the bus, so we made our way back to the bus station. Have I told you about the bathrooms yet? I think so, but I'll tell you again. They charge you to get in (3 pesos this time), and you're lucky if the toilets have seats, let alone toilet paper. It's gross. And at a bus station? That much more disgusting. *shudders* Anyway, we watched a movie called "Next" on the way to Taxco (it's Nicholas Cage and Jessica Biel... that ought to tell you something about the quality of the movie... top it with Spanish dubbing, and it was quite interesting!)- the ride was an hour and a half, so we watched the whole movie. And the bus was SO COOL! It had these things on the seats in front of you that you could pull down, and they would sort of connect with your seat to form a foot rest like on a recliner! It was SO COOL. (see picture of legs)

Once we got to Taxco, we had to go up these REALLY steep hills, and I was having flashbacks to the mountain in Tepoztlan. Of course, these were streets, not hiking routes, so it wasn't as bad, but it was just as crazy steep and it definitely made it hard to breathe. Plus, Javier was walking really fast, which didn't help much. But once we got to the town square it was awesome! There's this beautiful Baroque church called La Iglesia de Santa Prisca, and the architecture was amazing! (see pictures) It was so detailed and extravagant and grandiose and... well, you get the point. But it was so tall!! It was really cool.

After we walked through the church and took a bunch of pictures, we went shopping! It was literally a town of jewelry shops. I don't think there was any other kind of store around. Well, not in the town square, where we were. The jewelry in the actual square (it was more of a circle than a square, but whatever) was kind of pricey, but the shops that lined the street leading up to the square were a LOT more inexpensive. We spent about an hour going from store to store, looking for jewelry. It was SO MUCH FUN! I love shopping, but shopping for jewelry? I could do it all day. Seriously. We went down the street and went into every shop and looked at all the jewelry. I kind of had an idea of what I wanted. I knew I wanted earrings ("aretes" in spanish), and I was thinking about getting a ring, and I knew I had to get something silver, because it was the silver capital of Mexico. Well, I went through all the shops and then decided to go back to one of the first shops I saw, because they had some earrings that I liked and they were silver. I didn't want to buy them the first time I was there, though, because I wanted to explore my options. I didn't even end up buying the ones I originally wanted, because the backs were too small and didn't look right in my ears, so I tried some others. I ended up getting these really classy hanging earrings that were just silver (well, not pure silver, obviously... I don't have that kind of money) and kind of twist in the middle... I can't really describe them. Maybe I'll take some pictures and post them :) I also ended up getting another pair of earrings from the same little shop but a different vendor (I'll explain that, don't worry) that were dangly and had blue gems (which matched my shirt!) and were kind of sparkley... they were really cute!

Okay, so the "shops" along the street were kind of different... they were like booths that you would find lining a street, but the booths were inside and there were two or three vendors (at least) through each door. It was pretty cool. So in each "shop" there were actually a few different vendors. Anyway, you get the picture.

So, after I bought my jewelry, Laura and I were hungry (we didn't bring lunch, we wanted to eat there, and everyone else had brought their lunch and ate it before we went shopping), and we still had an hour, so we went to this little restaurant/cafe/thing for lunch. We stood in the entryway for a couple minutes, unsure of what to do. People were sitting at tables, and looking at menus, so we figured we should just sit at a table. We were debating on whether we were supposed to order at the counter (because it was kind of like a cafe) or if we should wait to be seated or if we should sit down... it was kind of confusing. But we sat, and a waiter brought us menus. I got three small quesadillas and a bottle of water, and Laura got taquitos and a mango milkshake-type-thing (she asked me if she should get strawberry or mango... I said mango). After we ate, we weren't sure what to do. A busboy came by and took our plates and stuff... but the waiter wasn't bringing the check. I had seen other people with their checks at the table, so I didn't think we were supposed to go up to the counter. So we sat there for a few minutes and tried to look like we were chatting (seriously, we were discussing how we should act like we were talking... it was hilarious!) and we couldn't get the attention of the waiter, so then we decided to stand up and ask our waiter what to do, and just as we got up to ask about the check, he said he would bring it to our table... it was really awkward. And we weren't sure if we were supposed to leave a tip or not (because you aren't supposed to tip taxis), but Laura said they had left a tip when she went out once, so we left a tip. It was great food, it was just kind of awkward.

After we ate, we sat in the middle of the town square and waited until we were supposed to meet Javier. We met a little boy who was selling gum and we talked to him for a little while. He was adorable, and it was sad that he was walking the square, trying to sell gum to tourists. There were a lot of little kids doing that. I didn't have any change, otherwise I would have bought some.

The bus ride home was uneventful, and Laura and Callie (the girl in the pic above) and I called a taxi to get home, but it took FOREVER for it to show up, which was annoying. But we got home just fine, and all in all it was an excellent day :)

I'll update again soon... we're going to salsa class tomorrow!

Love,

Allison