Sepember 27 Taxco
Arrived late in the afternoon. This is the city of silver, built on the side of a mountain. Our room had a wonderful view over the city, particularly as the lights began to twinkle when the sun went down. Visited several jewellery outlets selling silver ornaments, statues, and of course jewellery. Succumbed and purchased one ring. The city only really has one other feature of interest, being the cathedral which of course we visited.


September 28 Taxco to Puebla
Long drive through beautiful countryside. The fields are so green, and the country quite open. The altitude is still affecting us - the guide said we had been as high as 12,000 feet and Puebla is still 10,000 feet. We will reach lower altitudes in the next few days. Dinner at a restaurant near the hotel, where we had very good steak with prickly pear, rice, mashed avocado, brown bean mash, and vegetables. No chilli!

September 29 Puebla
Visited the cathedral and a church, where we saw some exquisite gold statues and ornaments, with one chapel being completely gold from floor to ceiling and even the ceiling itself. A street near a market had many artist outlets operating from small doorways, but most of the artwork did not appeal to Western taste.

Lunch was partaken in an old Colonial hotel, where we had our first taste of Mole (pronounced molay) with chicken. This is a traditional paste, made of bitter chocolate and about 20 other ingredients including spices and chicken consome, which looks like a dark gravy. It was surprisingly enjoyable and not too hot. Pueblo is supposed to have the best mole in Mexico, and if possible we will try to bring some home.

Spent several hours wandering through the Museum and learnt about the history of Mexico through artifacts and relics. The majority of the signage was also in English, so it was very interesting indeed.

A very dilapidated vehicle drove down a narrow street, an old lady jumped out, and took a basket of bread rolls and other pastries from the back for a store nearby. The vehicle continued down the street with the tailgate open, where this exercise was repeated with traffic behind tooting impatiently. Interesting to watch!

Observations of Interest so far
The young children are particularly beautiful, with no smiles and huge black eyes. Smaller children are very quietly spoken, and extremely well-behaved. Teenagers vary greatly, but the majority of the boys are slim and the girls plump. The tummies of many girls wobble quite a lot as they walk.
Small babies are wrapped in a blanket with their heads covered, carried by their mother or in some cases the father. There do not seem to be any prams or strollers, presumably because of the uneven surfaces of the roadways and footpaths.
Many of the women are quite overweight, which is most likely because of the intake of Western junk food which is readily available. Also, some of the Mexican delicacies are sweet and cooked in deep oil ie deep fried.
The hotels have signs "potable water" but we do not trust it, drinking bottled water as a precaution.
It is best to be very cautious about any sauce which is coloured either bright green or red! Try a little first.
Very few people seem to smoke, and we have been told that in Mexico city is not permitted to smoke anywhere outside or in restaurants, hotels etc. Presumably one could smoke at home?
There are many shoe-shine men, one on every corner around a plaza or square. They do an excellent job, and are kept very busy. It is pleasant to see men with very shiny polished shoes made of happy leather!
In Taxco we saw a wedding about to commence, although no bride yet. The bridesmaid was a puffball of bright red with beads and a tiara, and the flowergirl a bubble of white and pink.
According to our guide, Mexico is self-sufficient in agricultural products, and no-one goes hungry. But he also says that everyone has a job - so how come there are beggars on the streets?
Education is compulsory, and the children all wear uniforms. Teenage girls wearing long snow-white socks with light coffee-coloured knees above plus a tartan skirt were beautiful to behold. It seems that each school has a different uniform. Indians apparently do not attend school much, and this is not really policed.