Summer 2007 Car Trip - 18

Taxco is built on the side of a very steep hill. I suppose technically it is part of a mountain chain but it doesn’t feel like it. There is another high hill right across from it that is not as developed. There is a large country club like resort up there. There is a road up there, but even more fun, there is a cable car!

We had to take a taxi from the town square down to the valley between these hills in order to catch the cable car back up the other side. There are only two types of taxis in Taxco, both of the Volkswagen variety. The first is the combi (rather like the old hippie vans) which you have seen a picture of. The most common though is the good old VW beetle. Except that all of them, all of them, mind you, have had the passenger seat taken out! When I asked, I was told this is to make if faster for people to get in and out. I suppose if you are a taxi discharging passengers on a steep hill, you don't want to be sitting on your brakes for very long! It was like a circus act where all the clowns get out of a car, except in reverse! All three of us had to crowd onto the back seat. Well, mostly. L had a good part of his body stretched out into the passenger area!

The ascent up the hill was breathtakingly gorgeous and allowed us a great overview of the city. I thought we had seen pretty good vistas of it as we walked around, from level to level. The views that I had had of the city up til now had not prepared me for how spread out and packed this city really is. It was quite impressive.

Like I said, the houses are really packed together.

We got off at the top and paid for the ride up. Why we were not allowed to purchase tickets before getting in the car remains a mystery to me. We did have to purchase tickets in advance to get back down though. The main reason that this cable car had been put in was to allow a fun access to the Hotel Monte Taxco at the top of this mountain. It is a self-contained, overly pretentious resort that contains a pool, tennis courts, gym, steam rooms and a nine-hole golf course. They were cleaning the big ball the day we were there.

We wandered around a bit and then got back in the car for the equally impressive descent. We directed the cab to take up back up to the town square with really no plan in mind. L started talking to him about silver factories and did he know of any. Turns out that he did!

He dropped us off at a small building somewhere downtown and drove off. We rang the bell and were ushered into a small showroom of jewelry. We asked if we could tour the "factory" and they said sure. The whole thing took place over three floors in a very, tiny, tightly put together building. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took turned out clearly enough to see what was what. But we did get to see how the molds were made, how they are poured, cleaned, sanded, scrubbed and polished into the items you see in the stores. The best part?

We had stumbled into the factory that was making special orders (lots of them!) for sale on the QVC network in the USA! Too funny.

With the setting sun in our eyes, we headed off to dinner and then to bed. Tomorrow was another travel day.