My honeymoon with buses here is OVER!!

  Taxco, Mexico
Monday, September 18, 2006

This morning I got up and did some yoga in the hallway...they lock all the common areas here. grr. I then got on the metro and ran off to catch the bus to Taxco. Itīs a great little city that has been preserved by the Mexican government. There are restrictions as to what you can build there etc. Itīs also renowned for its silver. The ride was only 2 and a half hours, and I watched some crazy English movie with people trapped in a cave. It was pretty awful, but not dubbed in Spanish, so I was all for it.

I wandered (ie got extremely lost) around Taxco for several hours checking out the silver and comparing prices. Everything is done by weight here, so itīs very much on the up and up. I had an overpriced lunch, but it included vegetables, so it was pretty much worth it. Then off for more shopping! I bought a few pieces, and then decided it was time to catch my bus back.

Unfortunately, I didnīt realize that half of Mexico City came to Taxco for the weekend. Sunday night is apparently a very popular time to go to the city. Ugh. At 3 I tried to leave, and couldnīt get a ticket until 6. I had seen enough of the city and had walked up more than enough hills, so I perpared to wait it out in the bus station. Then I remembered that there was another bus terminal that I passed on my wanderings, so headed off there. I managed to get a ticket for a 4:40 bus, so was much happier. Unfortunately, we were 20 minutes late leaving (Back on Mexico time, apparently!) and the washroom at the back of the bus (close to where I was sitting, obviously) was broken, so the whole bus smelled like...well, you know. And then we hit massive traffic getting back into the city. All in all the bus ride took a little over 4 hours. Madness. Then I had to metro it back to the hostel, and of course got in well after dark. I booked it to the hostel in a mad dash, as the streets were deserted save for a few sketchy, sketchy people. Fun times! Then some street food for dinner (yuck!) and hopefully off to bed soon.

Fun day, but too long! Tomorrow Iīm exploring the city some more, then taking an overnight bus to Puerto Escondido for some sun and surfing.