Taxco was our last stop on the trip and as we had money left we were looking forward to browsing the silver shops (or at least I was) and having a good New Year's Eve there. We arrived and discovered that our hotel was a bit weird - they had the smallest rooms I have ever seen. The first room they showed us you literally opened the door and climbed onto the bed - there wasn't even room for one suitcase. The second room was a little bit better but didn't have a bathroom - we went for that one and found that the bathroom was a short walk outside and was again on the compact side of things. It was definitely the strangest and least comfortable place we stayed.
We walked into Taxco and got completely lost in a market where you could buy live beetles in plastic bags... Eventually we found our way to the centre and grabbed some lunch at a pretty little cafe. Then we browsed around a few silver shops - there's a lot of choice in Taxco and you could spend days looking around all the little shops. The price range is also huge - from absolute bargains to gorgeous designer silver pieces at the higher end of the scale.
In the evening we went to a pizza restaurant overlooking the pretty main square and stayed there a while enjoying the view. It was strange to be back in a place where you needed something to keep you warm at night after we'd been by the coast and enjoying the warm evenings. We had felt a bit nevrous that we might not find anything to do for NYE as it was a very quiet little town so we'd gone out and bought a bottle of fizzy wine to have on the roof terrace of the hotel. In the end we found a bar though which was friendly and an enjoyable place to see in the new year. We didn't stay out massively late but they did give us free tamales for new year and i drank a couple of very nice cocktails.
The next day we did a bit more shopping and I finally decided on a couple of pretty pieces of jewellery to take away with me. We had lunch in a nice veggie restaurant (which was a treat) and i had hummus- very exciting! Later on we decided to go up the cable car as it promised spectacular views. It was quite a walk from the town centre, but very nice and the views on the way up were great. However when we actually reached the top, there wasn't much to see or do. We had an ice-cream, a little wander about and then headed back down again watching the sun set on the way down.
We bought a torta and some tacos on the way back, plus a bag of ice and some snacks and had dinner and fizzy wine on the roof of the hotel. It was a fun last evening and although we felt sad that the trip was almost over it was a good end.
The next day we headed for some caves a few kilometres from Taxco. It was very busy and for a while we wondered if it was the right decision, but the caves were beautiful (although it was a long walk - they went 2km into the mountain side and then another 2km back out again. The rock formations were stunning and although they were lit up to resemble people and animals and stuff (and you had to go on a guided trip where they told you all about the legends behind each formation)they were really facinating. We had a quick lunch at the restaurant there.
After this it was time for th long long long drive back to SLP. It took a long time and was a bit stressful, but we got there safe and in one piece and that was the Xmas trip over and done with.
