Artesanas Campesinas

HISTORIC TAXCO Text and Photographs by Esteban A. de Varona Translated from the original in Spanish by Leonard Cooper edited by GG in November 2001 First impression, November, 1953

Historic Taxco

HIDDEN in the fold of a high mountain range
of northern Guerrero,
and as if nailed to its rugged landscape
~ in which much more sky than earth appears ~
there is a laughing, shining town whose square white houses are heaped together
in the most picturesque and surprising untidiness.
The laughing, shining town of Taxco is the artistic capital of the State of Guerrero
and possibly the oldest mining center in Spanish America. Taxco contemplates an indescribable panorama of mountains which look like the green waves of a choppy sea.

MODERN TAXCO Taxco (tas-co) is in the state of Guerrero; Population: 150,000 Altitude: 1,780 meters (5850 feet) 164 km. (111 mi.) southwest of Mexico City 50 miles south of Cuernavaca

Modern Taxco

Tropical highlands, mountainous;
always pleasant, cool at night.
Taxco’s temperatures are normally comfortable year-round, The town’s inland location and altitude keeps the humidity low and rains during the summer typically are only afternoon showers.
summary of average monthly temperatures
and precipitation in Taxco

High in the hills of the southern Sierra Madre sits a town that strikes most visitors as the perfect picture of Mexican charm.
The town is Taxco, perched peacefully
on an otherwise precarious hillside
from which its red tile and white stucco houses, and pink geranium gardens, seem to tumble into the lush mountain greenery.