Mexico XVI - Taxco

We saw the "Grutas de Cacahuamilpa and Taxco all in one day. It was Good Friday and Scott didn't have to work, so we figured why not? A little much for one day, but sometimes I'd rather drive home late at night then to bring everything for an overnight stay.

Here is a view of the valleys surrounding Taxco. I bought a wall-hanging from this man on the side of the freeway and couldn't resist taking a picture. I did ask his permission first, and usually as long as you buy something this is acceptable. The mountains in this region (southwest of Mexico City) are so pretty, and it's great getting some fresh air.

Taxco is meditteranean style city built upon the side of a moutain. This used to be the world's largest producer of silver. There are still silver mines in the area and it's a great place to pick up silver beads and jewelry.

One downside, the town is not stroller or kid friendly. To the right of the picture above, you see Scott carrying the double-stroller down a flight of stairs. There are several places where you can proceed via a long flight of stairs, no ramps or roads to take you up to the town square. I would definately not do this again with the kids.

Here is a view of the town from the restaurant.

The kids were starving after all the flights of stairs.

The "zocolo" or main town square of Taxco. Note all the movement!

WARNING: Those with week stomachs stop reading at this point and don't look at the following pictures.

Well, what we didn't know, was that there is a huge religious procession on Good Friday, the day we went to Taxco. I looked this up when we got home, and it actually is a time when a lot of tourists come to Taxco to see this very procession. Above is a man carrying a cross from a montesary up to the center of town.

Poor Julianna found this very disturbing (who wouldn't) but couldn't stop watching the people carrying thorns, heavy crosses, or even those whipping themselves with belts covered in nails (self-flagellation as I later learned.) Notice the girl in the picture totally staring at Julianna. There is no word in Spanish that means "stare" and people will just stare and stare and stare at you. Matilda, with her blond hair and blue eyes shoots back nasty glares, and even this doesn't stop them. Scott taught her to say "Que me ves?!" - why are you looking at me?

This man is carrying stalks covered in thorns. My kids kept saying, "Mom is this real???!!!" And i couldn't lie to them, this was not some Hollywood production. This man had blood dripping down his back. One women told me a lot of these men were addicts who wanted to join the montesary and had to do this first. Haven't they heard of AA? That would be far less painful. I have more pictures, some of women with collars and leashes covered from head to toe in black doing the pilgramidge on their hands and knees.

This was the only nice part of the procession, little children dressed as angels.

WARNING - CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL

Taxco Good Friday procession - self-flagellation

I really hope I don't offend anyone, this is what we all happend to see... you never know what you are going to get in Mexico. Julianna, after seeing this asked me, "Mom, is this the true church?" I told her, "no," and she said, "I didn't think so."