Attractions

Shopping for jewelry and other items is the major pastime for tourists. Prices for silver jewelry at Taxco's shops are about the best in the world, and everything is available, from 10-peso trinkets to artistic pieces that cost hundreds of dollars. There are several standout shops in town, including TeGo, Benito Juarez 46 (tel. 762/622-0615), which features the unique jewelry of designer Teresa Gonzalez.

In addition, Taxco is the home of some of Mexico's finest stone sculptors and is a good place to buy masks. However, beware of so-called "antiques" -- there are virtually no real ones for sale.

If you purchase a large item during your stay and need help with packaging and/or mailing it, visit the folks at Empaques San David, Miguel Hidalgo 15 (tel. 762/622-2036).

Silversmiths and Wordsmiths -- Imagine you're walking through a cavernous marketplace, carved into the Guerrero mountainside. The sights, smells, and sounds are unfamiliar, and all of a sudden you look up and see a Herman Hesse quote neatly written on a chalkboard among the pipes, screws, and water heater parts of an old-fashioned hardware store. It says in Spanish, "Not being loved is only a question of luck; the true tragedy is not being able to love at all." The store's owner, Miguel Angel Aviles, was hoping to make you think just a little. Aviles has been putting up intriguing phrases in front of his locale for more than 20 years and says that people often pass by just to read them. One of the biggest attention getters was this one by former Mexican President Alvaro Obregon: "Certainly bad luck exists, but god only distributes it among fools." One Uruguayan visitor liked that one so much that he turned it into his Christmas card -- one of the recipients came to complain to Aviles that he'd been looking at the phrase on his refrigerator all year.

If you'd like to read Aviles's latest phrase, enter the market from the stairway on Real de Cuauhtémoc, just in front of the pharmacy. Make a quick right at the bottom of the stairs, and the hardware store will be on your immediate right.

Nearby Attractions -- The impressive Grutas de Cacahuamilpa, known as the Cacahuamilpa Caves or Grottoes, lie less than a half-hour north of Taxco. Hourly guided tours run daily at the caverns, which house fascinating stalactite and stalagmite formations. To see them, you can join a tour from Taxco or take a combi from the Flecha Roja terminal in Taxco; one-way is 50 pesos, and admission to the caves is 50 pesos.

Special Events & Festivals

January 18 marks the annual celebration in honor of Santa Prisca, with public festivities and fireworks displays. Holy Week in Taxco is one of the most poignant in the country, beginning the Friday a week before Easter with processions daily and nightly. The most riveting, on Thursday evening, lasts almost 4 hours. Villagers from the surrounding area carry statues of saints, followed by hooded members of a society of self-flagellating penitents, chained at the ankles and carrying huge wooden crosses and bundles of thorny branches. On Saturday morning, the Plaza Borda fills for the Procession of Three Falls, reenacting the three times Christ stumbled and fell while carrying the cross.

Taxco's Silver Fair starts the last week in November and continues through the first week in December. It includes a competition for silver works and sculptures among the top silversmiths. In late April to early May, Jornadas Alarconianas features plays and literary events in honor of Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (1572-1639), a world-famous dramatist who was born in Taxco -- and for whom Taxco de Alarcón is named. Art exhibits, street fairs, and other festivities are part of the dual celebration.