BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello All,
I will be traveling/studying in Taxco, Mexico this summer. Does anyone know about the University (UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) there or have any traveling suggestions? I will be there for a total of seven weeks, living with a host family (meals not included), does anyone have an idea of the amount of spending money I should take? I will be using public transportation daily and as mentioned above, the cost of housing and schooling is already taken care of. I appreciate any ideas/tips/suggestions you all may have!
~Victoria

I didn't realize UNAM had a campus in Taxco.

Taxco is a decent place. It's a scenic place, with lots of hills and colonial architecture. It's popular with tourists from Mexico City, and I imagine you'll have a good time there. The pollution is nowhere near as bad as in the capital. I've never spent more than an afternoon there - it's a bit overrated, in my opinion, but that doesn't mean it's unpleasant, by any means. I'm sure you'll enjoy living there quite a bit.

As for budget, $10/day for food and a beer or two is quite reasonable, if you keep things modest. Intercity bus travel in Mexico typically runs $4-5 per hour. For example, the 24 hours from Mexico City to Cancun is about $100. Internet cafes are usually about a dollar an hour.

Diddle, I can help you quite a bit here. My father bought silver here, and I stayed there a while independently.

1. public transport would be a cab up and down the mountainside or the volkswagon buses that are about a peso per trip, and run all over the place. Just hop on and ask for the place you want to go. Usually, you want to go to the Zocalo or a place near there.

The UNAM campus is WAY up the hill, but its definitely walkable if you want to stay in shape. I prefered to walk up and down to stay in shape, when i could.

The city is more expensive than most placss in mexico, but 10 dollars a day should do it if you eat cheaply. Now, if you're like me, and you have a few free bucks, go to the Restaurant Agua Escondida. It is, I think, or was, the most reasonably priced restaurant for the quality deliversd, and has(had) some wickedly good Huevos Mexicanos.

Its a beautiful Zocalo, and the church is absolutely incredible, something out of a churririesque fairy tale. The Main retablo os so inndredible I would go in sometimes and just look at it for an hour.

Its all about selling silver to tourists and busineses, by the way. If someone takes you for a silver buyer, and offers to take you to a silver factor, well, by all means say yes. Its an interesting experience, I'm sure.

There are a lot of small beautiful towns nearby that I never visited.

Mexico city is so close that if your homework load is small enoughm, you can pop there for the weekend and be back in time for school.

Ok'instructions on arrivel. The bus well let you off at the bottom of the hill, and yes, you can walk up it, but its bigger than you think with a full pack on. So either take a a cab to your place, or if your place is near the zocalo, take one of the public buses running up the hill. Say Zocalo, and if they nod, hop on, pay your peso, or whatever it is now. and get off at the square with the trees in the midde and the beautiful church. You really can't miss it.

If your place is nearby the zocalo, you've saed a lot of cabfare, and it can be a maze if your faimly house isn't on a very main road. So, perhaps a cab isnt a bad idea for the first time.

Theres a movie theater there, and a few not bad restaurants. If you want to really learn Spanish, speak to the street vendors and go silver shopping in your bad spanish, looking at this and that.

On the bottom of the hill, by the main bus station, is the place for the cheapest street food. Thre used to be barbecued chicken for a decent price. Theres a mercado, and you'll find it in your wanderings. Its somewhere down the hill between the Zocalo and the bus station.

Everyone else does it, why not you?

The town is beautiful. Enjoy yourself!!!



Good luck!!!

BTW, how did you sign up for the school?

Thank you so much for your advice Felix and Tortuga. I am all the more excited to go now that I have this additional information! And to answer your question Tortuga, I am currently a student at the University of New Mexico, and Taxco was a place in which we can study and still transfer credit back, so Taxco, here I come!! Thanks for your help once again. If you guys think of anything else, let me know.

Oh yes, one more thing. I said Taxco is more expensive than much of mexico, and the prices have risen there.

If you want to go for a few drinks every night, or eat out all the time, your will need about 20 dollars a day, most likely.

There is a disco that everyone seems to go to at Monte Taxco, which is a very price resort hotel. YOu need to take a cab there, and its not cheap by any means, but the view of Taxco is pretty good from the other side of the mountain, on top of it.

Anyway, I saw the disco, and it was packed with Mexicans, young rich mexicans, so its an option for some exotic fun. Taxco is not a party town, by the way. Its a sober business town with some entertainment, a lot of it in the upper range of costs. After all, the main customers are silver buyers and rich tourists, right?

You'll also find cheap food in the Mercado.

PS. Dont feed the half wild dogs unless you intend on taking them home. Dogs have an interestin life in Taxco. They live with their owners as pampered pets, or are abandoned to the fates, or rather, living off the remains of the Mercado and other trash. If a half tamed one wants food from you, once you give it food, its yours for life, and will follow you everywhere. I wanted to adopt one of them myself, but I was a traveller, wasn't I. I can pretty much be sure that your host family will not appreciate a wild dog hounding their house for scraps of food.

I think you'll love Taxco--at least I always do.

My favorite restaurant is Sotavento, where you can eat on a second floor balcony looking over the street, or at a lovely interior courtyard with plants and a fountain. The food is delicious and the prices are reasonable. A great breakfast is yogurt with fruit and granola from the market. The vendor says she disinfects the strawberries, but I don't usually take the chance. I order things that have been peeled--pinapple, banana, melon. The market is big and confusing, but keep asking and you'll probably find what you want. There's also good street food in the pedestrian alley called Los Pajaritos that leads into the market.

I recommend a day trip to the Grutas de Cacahuemilpa, very dramatic caverns. You can get there cheaply in a combi that leaves from next to the bus station.

Have a wonderful time!

Ah yes, teh Grutas. Don't miss them.

Pay careful attention to the formations. There are some interesting ones. It is very impressive.!!!!

Hi there,
I was there a long time ago but I REALLY loved it. I was there in July, and at the time, they were holding an accoustic guitar festival.(It was an annual international contest) The concerts in the cathedral were absolutely amazing! I hope for you that the festival still exists. Have fun!