Taxco, Mexico

Over Memorial Day weekend this year, I had the opportunity to visit Mexico for a third time in the past 2 years. This time, we choose to go to Taxco, a town just a few hours West of Mexico City. Known for the white buildings and silver mines, it proved to be another excellent and fun trip south of the boarder.

This was the first trip to Mexico where I really felt like I was deep inside of Mexico. The entire trip, I did not see another “gingro” tourist. The only tourists appeared to be other Mexicans. English speakers were very difficult to come by. My Spanish preparation came up frustratingly short.

But that did not distract from the fun, the beautiful sites and the delicious food. We were also fortunate to have an incredible short term rental with an nearly private pool

Highlights of the trip were climbing up steep roads and stairs to the top of the city to see the Cristo Monumental. Seeing an actual Silver Mine during an all Spanish speaking tour. Walking through the street markets and buying fruits and sweets. Cooling off in the pool after a day of walking in the heat.

Food highlights included the best mango I’ve ever consumed. Discovering Cafe de Olla. Lime micheladas. Delicious pozoles. And the legendary Berta cocktail which I’ve been unable to replicate back home despite the simplicity of the ingredients.

But the true highlight of the trip was our last day. A visit to Mil Cascadas. About an hour to the East, along some narrow rows, it was a national park of sorts that contained an extensive cave system and a large waterfall with dozens of pools going down the mountainside. And we got to explore all of these. Wading and swimming deep inside the cave with only our tour guide. Jumping off cliffs into pitch blackness within the cave from 10 -20 feet above the water; jumping, sliding and swinging from cliffs 10-40 feet above the pools outside, we spent over 4 hours there. It’s an experience of a lifetime. One I’ll never forget and likely never do again.