Taxco

After our week with Carri, we headed out of town with our friend visiting from Ciudad Juarez to the town of Taxco which is famous for its silversmiths and is known as a piece of the Mediterranean in Mexico. The town was built into the side of a hill near silver mines and is filled with super steep, twisting cobblestone streets. All the houses are all white stucco with red tile roofs, and it is very picturesque. So much so that we didn't get a single picture of ourselves, so I guess you'll just have to take our word for it that we actually went there.

Nestled into the hillside

Water anyone? BYO Bucket!
 
Views of town

The church in the main square

After a busy morning of silver shopping, we started looking for someplace to have lunch. Our guidebook recommended "Bertha's Bar" since it is apparently where the margarita was invented, although they call it a bertha...so I wasn't totally convinced of that alleged story. Anyway, we checked it out but it took the term "hole in the wall" a little too literally, and we decided that if the food didn't kill us, the clientele would.

After wandering around looking lost, we were approached by a promotore for one of the rooftop restaurants. He showed us a picture of the restaurant and the food, and we agreed to follow him up about 1,000 flights of stairs, hallways, alleys and sketchy looking "shops" to what turned out to be a really great restaurant with views of the zocalo, church, town and the surrounding mountains. Naturally, we were given English menus and encouraged to get busy with the drinkin' like good Americans!

We thought about getting the hot bbq WIGS,
but thought they might be a bit too hairy..

Then considered the NOODIE soup,
but were nervous about what that might imply...

Although the CHISTORRA sounded delicious,
the lack of translation or explanation caused some apprehension among all three diners...

We settled for a guacamole stegosaurus...rawr...and some enchiladas

Despite it's sign, this was actually a really nice jewelry mall
...although our arrival at 10:30 in the morning beat most of the shopkeepers by at least 3 hours
Ok, I guess I did get one shot of Autumn from the back!

This was on our way back to the "valet" parking where after checking the car in, we were pretty sure we would not be seeing that car again, and would probably just have to ride the bus home. Happily, it was returned to us in perfect condition...a 50 cents well spent!
The drive back down this street was interesting to say the least.

It was so great to hang out with Katie all day, and we all came home with some fabulous silver gifts and treasures.

...And finally, a shout out to Mrs. Winston in the Buj!

You'd be very proud of the locals representin' for your Minnesota Vikings...or maybe they're just regular vikings...you be the judge.

Translation: The Vikings Restaurant: Bar - Cake Shop

That's right...Carnitas Vikingos! in Cuernavaca
I'll take one ludefisk carnita please!

Carri Visit: Day 5

Carri's final day in Mexico City...sniff sniff tear!

She and Autumn made the most of it with a power-packed day that started off at the Torre Latinoamericana...our Empire State Building of sorts:

Ok, its really only the second tallest building in the city!

Smoggy fun!

BFF's 4ever!!

After touring the Torre, Autumn and Carri stopped by the office to grab some tacos with me. I think the only reason I was invited was that Autumn didn't want to speak Spanish to the street vendor guy, but Carri assured me that she had been wheeling and dealing in Spanish all week. They apparently even got some Spanish-speaking only deals at the Ciudadela on Monday...I was so proud!!
Cheese!
Maybe that was the inspiration for the outfits of those ladies behind us!

MMMMM!!! Autumn went with the standard street tacos al pastor.
I get mine "con todo" with onions and cilantro...it's risky, but worth it!

After lunch, the ladies headed over to the Anthropology Museum, which is incredible and really gives you a better understanding of the stuff that you see around Mexico.
I'll be leading the next tour group...book your reservation now!

Tree of Life sculpture

Apparently the downfall of the Olmecs was that they let their power go to their heads...PUN!

Hidden jungle temple...take a right past the gift shop and if you get to the cafeteria, you've gone too far!

Apparently they took all the good paintings and stuff from the big pyramids and put it here in the museum...

And one last plug for Carri's photos posted to Facebook.
There really are so many that if you click them fast enough it's like watching a video of her trip!

Thanks for the great visit Carri! We love you! Come back any time!!!!

Carri Visit: Day 4

Tuesday, our heroines Autumn and Carri braved the many dangers and wonders of the world-renowned TURIBUS!!!

FIRST STOP: Polanco with our wonderful abundance of fancy shops and malls, including Antara:

Ok...I love Christmas as much as anyone...but it's only November 23!!

The small army of city gardeners changing out the median decorations...poinsettias!
Aka the "Noche Buena" en espanol

I'm on a BUS!

Snack-bike!! Lunch...? Um...no weird cheetos for me thanks!

That's more like it...and highly recommended for a bite to eat in Condesa
Although the sign might make you think otherwise, this restaurant actually served food to people, not dogs!

NEXT STOP: Centro Historico and the Templo Mayor

The Central Cathedral, which is partially built on top of the ruins of the pyramid...thanks Spanish Conquistadors!!

Down into the pyramid!

Hola Quetzacoatl!

Please note that this temple was destroyed by flying skeletons wielding flame-throwing spears...
at least according to the picture!

The biggest surprise was the huge museum of pre-Colombian artifacts included with the tour of the temple.

Oh, you want to see more from the museum? Well, just come visit us...or you can check out Carri's Facebook for an extensive collection of photos.

Or go back in time to August and see our first Turibus adventure!!

Carri Visit: Day 3

Well since my darling wife seems to have come down with a bad case of blogaphobia, I'll be giving you the play-by-play for the rest of Carri's visit...even though I was working the whole time!!

Autumn did go into work for the morning on Monday, leaving Carri at home for some much-needed downtime and sightseeing research. They met up for lunch and then went shopping at the Ciudadela Artesania, which is a really great arts and crafts market that brings in products from all over Mexico, and I have to say has the nicest, un-pushy shopkeepers. It's a must see for all of our visitors!

Since the shoportunites were so abundant...there were no pictures from today...so here's one from Google images:

Carved and painted gourd "boxes"...one of the many crafts available at the Ciudadela!

Teotihuacan, Take 2.

Our second trip to Teotihuacan brought much better weather than the first.  We got to leave the raincoats at home this time, and the stairs were not as slippery on the sun temple, but that didn't make the climb up or down any easier.  It was a beautiful day, though, and we thoroughly enjoyed taking Carri to on of Mexico's most famous archaeological sites.  Also, we learned that Sundays are free at Teotihuacan for anyone holding an ID issued by Mexico.  That is very good to know!

Carri in the "wild" agave grove...as we know agave is a very useful plant!  It produces paper, thread, needles and, most importantly, many types of booze.

Carri and Autumn on the steps of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl.  (Say that one 10 times fast!)  It is extremely steep, and note that the stair we are standing in front of comes up to our knees.  The former residents of Teotihuacan must have had quads of steel!

Eric looking sharp in front of the Temple of the Sun.

 

Ancient bird painting, marvel of the past.

Person who decided 3" wedge sandals were perfect temple climbing shoe, marvel of the present.

Carri Visit: Day 1

Autumn's best friend Carri came down to visit us for the week before Thanksgiving. We kicked off day one with a trip to the market to buy groceries for the week, and of course it was Dia de la Revolucion! So, there was a big military parade...something that we've grown accustomed to here I suppose as this is our second one in 4 months! The military equipment was awe-inspiring / frightening as usual, so afterward we took a stroll through the park. While on our walk we stumbled upon a "show" being put on by the Nahua and Totonaco descendants. It was a fertility ritual that apparently is an hourly / daily thing just blocks from our house! Afterward, we headed home for a relaxed evening before our big trip out to the pyramids!

I guess Autumn thought she got a bum deal!
I thought that 5 pesos was pretty good for all those green beans!

Usually this street is choked with honking traffic, so it was fun to wander around in it on this empty Saturday morning.

Checkers or chess anyone?!?

BFF's with their new friend from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun

Carri really was an angel of a house-guest!

Bazookas and tanks and semi-automatic weapons. Oh My!

A slightly less dangerous parader...

The voladores...or "flyers"...we paid them 5 pesos!

Weeeeee.....

Christmas Decorating!

Although it has been Christmas in the stores here since well before Halloween, Autumn and I pulled out our Christmas decorations today. We also finally bought our very own fake Christmas tree. Costco was all out, so we checked out the selection at...where else...the grocery store! We decided that since we were going fake, we'd better go all the way, and we bought a tree with built-in tinsel and color-changing fiber optic lights. It's quite mesmerizing! We threw a few glitter balls into the cart and were ready to go!

Our tasteful holiday wreath...courtesy of Target!

Holiday balls and reindeer "objects" from Pottery Barn

Our new grocery store psychedelic Xmas tree

Color-changing glory!
Red-white-and blue! Maybe we'll keep it up 'til the 4th of July!?!

Acapulco: Cliff Divers

Day two of Acapulco: We ventured out of the hotel (in a hotel taxi) to go see the cliff divers. We were dropped off near the cliffs at a great hotel / restaurant with front row seats for the show. While we dined on deep-fried, garlic encrusted mahi mahi, we watched the guys dive from about 100' cliffs. It was pretty impressive! After a few more hours back in the pool at the hotel, we went across the street to a restaurant called Kookabura and had an amazing dinner. Very relaxing day!

Note these are Professional Cliff Divers.

Excited to be out of town!

Time lapse divers...

Two at a time!

Final dive!

...back at the hotel:
Panoramic view from the room! 

Acapulco Bay

Sunset of the Pacific Ocean

Goodbye private pool!