silver bargain!

north america → united mexican states → guerrero → taxco

continuing my way headed south, i decided to pass by taxco, a former colonial silver-mining center in the state of guerrero. from the country’s capital mexico city, the town is situated some 200 km southwest. although i did not go to acapulco (which is a shame), this is same route for the famed beach. the city is standing along the sides of a mountain (i think sierra madre, the same name as a mountain range in the philippines), with narrow steep roads, streets paved with cobblestones, and colonial houses generously decorated with bricks and red-tiled roofs.

the main attraction of taxco is probably the silver bargain. taxco is considered the world’s silver capital, and as much as i dislike golds (don’t have a single glittering yellow personal ornament) because it has this kababayan-galing-saudi effect, i prefer having silvers. but not that i am a expert in silver, in fact, i don’t have a silver necklace for ages and just found a new one in this town. most silvers here are engraved with MEX 925 or TAXCO 925. just so you know, it is an alloy as silver alone would be too malleable for jewelry. 925 represents the 92.5% of silver in it, and usually the remaining percentage is copper. silver shops line the main plaza, zocalo, and all the streets leading to it.

getting to taxco from cuernavaca is straightforward. ‘went to the bus terminal of estrella blanca, and got a costa line ticket going taxco for 57 pesos. the travel a bit more than an hour, and takes you through spectacular mountains and fields before a sea of whitewashed homes with red-tile roofs, and the spires of santa prisca church will suddenly appear over the last crest of the journey. a major problem i had is that i don’t have a slight idea where in taxco hostel arellano is. i tried asking at the bus before getting boarded in cuernavaca and they don’t know it. good thing, a girl overheard our conversation, and she knew exactly where the hostel is. she speaks enough english, and even too nice to sketch a map for me! reaching taxco, and eventually casa arellano hostel, i couldn’t imagine how would i find the place without her help with all the complexities of unnamed streets plus small alleys! so that was really a saving grace.

another notable jewel in the town is the 250-year old santa prisca church. it is one of the most elaborate construction in mexico and a unique display of an architectural design called churrigueresque. a person that played an important role in this town is jose de la borda (yup, the same borda from jardin borda in cuernavaca). sometime in the early 1700’s, jose de la borda left france and tried his luck in one of spain’s vast empire. by then, taxco has long been a mining excavation, and the original mines were soon sucked dry that not a whole new significant discovery happened for the next 200 years, that is, until jose borda’s arrival. luck wasn’t all visible and easy that borda was about to return home after several months of fruitless toil, however, when he finally struck it rich. as the story goes, one day, his horse stumbled on a rock, dislodging a stone and exposing the precious metal. it is at this exact location that the santa prisca church now stood. he solely funded the construction of the magnificent church on the condition that neither the catholoc order nor the viceroy would ever interfere with the project. borda’s quote being: God gives to Borda, Borda gives to God.

after trying the local food in a restaurant’s balcony, with an impressive view of zocalo, and the architecture, i headed along narrow streets haggling for silvers. as in all territories, those main establishments, being those in the immediate plaza or square, are the most expensive silver stores. finding smaller silver stores in a street to the left of santa prisca church (when facing), i bought a necklace, 3 pendants for it from different stores, some earrings for pasalubong. earrings is the most safest item as there is no sizes to consider, plus, it’s a lot cheaper than rings, bracelet, or necklace! got 2 silver bookmarks as well, a plain ring, and a keychain.

hard rain poured in the late afternoon, and after waiting for it to subside, i called it a day and walked my way back to the hostel. of course, i got a dormitorio, the cheapest as always, with a bathroom ensuite (which is nice). there’s nobody in the dormitory when i got there earlier, and now there were 2 big backpacks that later on revealed to be owned by 2 young lovely french girls (which is also nice, hehe), marianne and laura. they’re going around mexico for 6 weeks (longer than me, i envy), and have just explored some towns north of mexico city. not surprisingly (because of the proximity), they also came from cuernavaca before taxco, and surprisingly enough, they’ll be heading to puebla the next day, exactly the same as my plan! so i figured i could join them for awhile. however, they’ll be heading more south to oaxaca from puebla whilst by then, it’s almost bye-bye time for me as i have to go north back to distrito federal in time for my sunday’s flight to st paul.

early the next day, i went out for a final walk around zocalo, and tried native drink atole, which is a starch-based hot drink common in mexico and central america. chocolate version of it is known as champurrado, which is also the same name for a chocolate-rice soup in the philippines. then, went to the very hidden silver museum. it was a bit hard to find, but with the guide i got from the web, it became possible to locate it. when i got there, (it’s in the basement level), walls were locked and lights were off. i was about to leave the place when i braved enough to get in a dank alley and howl, “hola?”. unexpectedly, i got an answer, and i asked if the museum is cerrado (close). she didn’t answer, and opened one of the walls with her key. then, she pulled it open, and then revealed a mini silver museum (more of exhibit) with an entry fee of 10 pesos. inside were marvelous silvercrafts from renowed silversmith and artist william spratling. collection includes silvers in various forms, from simple to elaborate design. silver crabs, human head silver figures, silver jewelry and ornaments, even silverwares, and asked permission to take a single picture (yes, this is another museum where photography is not allowed) of silver representation of christ’s crucifixion. ‘really magnificent.

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