We needed to get up to Mexico City to catch our plane home, however on the way from Acapulco there was a beautiful little town called Taxco that we decided to stop in. Beautiful white-walled buildings on this town built into the side of a mountain made this a picturesque destination and we stayed at a gorgeous little guesthouse.
The town used to be a silver-mining centre, however unfortunately all the silver has been mined out! That said, many silver jewelers still reside in the town (sourcing their silver from elsewhere in Mexico) and there was lots of beautiful handicrafts to buy (the cheap stuff) and look at (the expensive stuff ... eg life-sized jaguars coated in silver!)
The view from our guesthouse over Taxco
More Taxco scenery
Mexico City
We boarded our final bus ride for our trip to Mexico City with mixed feelings. We knew that this was an important marker for the end of our trip, however it was also nice to leave long-distance bus travel behind in our lives after this point in time!!
The tourist guides and fellow travellers all warned about Mexico City. Stories of murders, kidnappings and gang warfare rang in our ears as we entered the city. Fortunately, during our 3-day stay we managed to steer clear of trouble and had a fantastic time!! Lots of great restaurants (Mexican and international) and amazing shopping allowed us to finish off our Mexico travels with our backpacks overstuffed with souvenirs and our stomachs full of tacos (until the final night when Mexico gave Dave one final bout of food poisoning as a farewell present!).
Top 3s
After passing through Mexico City unscathed, we boarded the plane for the loooooong flight home. This gave us plenty of time to reflect on our travels and come up with some "top 3" lists for the good, the bad and the ugly moments of our trip:
Top 3 Beautiful Beaches:
Top 3 Scary Surf Beaches
Top 3 "Random" characters on the trip
Top 3 pieces of annoying music
Top 3 good musicians/bands overplayed so much that we will need a little break before hearing them again:
Top 3 t-shirts/road-signs
Top 3 books for a good read
Top 3 thought-provoking books
Top 3 Accommodations under US$50 per night:
Top 3 Worst Accommodations
Top 3 budget meals
Top food moments (sorry, couldn't fit this into just 3!!!)
Top Drinks (very difficult to fit into a top 3 as well)
And finally .. the beers (and now the top 3 thing is right out the window...)
This week, Dave boarded a fully functional plane, sat up the front, had a car waiting for him at the airport which took him to one of the nicest hotels in Melbourne, all without paying a cent ... a very stark comparison to the travel from the last six months! Unfortunately the days were now filled with meetings, emails, stress and powerpoint slides ... rather than blue beaches, Coronas, ancient ruins and (most importantly) hanging out with Kate.
Fortunately, after the first hectic week back at work a long weekend with Kate beckoned up at the Northern Beaches in Sydney. While we longed to still be on the road travelling, it did indeed feel good to be home, watching the rugby while catching up with family and old friends. Fortunately, Coronas were on sale at the bottle shop, so as we looked out over the beach, we hoped that we could keep living the dream for at least 2 days a week...
Thanks for following our adventures over the last 6 months!!
Hasta Luego! or more accurately ... Seeya layda!
Kate and Dave