My Dad's Trip to Mexico (Part Two)

 

(A continuation of my previous post in which I describe the trip my dad and I took in 1975)

 

 

After several days in Mexico City, we headed east in a rental car.  Back in those days there were very few four-lane highways in Mexico.  Most of our journeys were on two lane roads.

 

We went to Cholula, two hours from the capital.  Here I had attended the University of the Americas a couple years before.

 

 

 

Me at the campus of my old school

 

 

 

Dad in front of the Pyramid of Cholula

 

 

We went to the nearby town of Tlaxcala and spent a couple days with a family that I had met during my student days.

 

 

The beautiful Basilica of Ocotlán in Tlaxcala

 

We then continued eastward to the city of Jalapa, the capital of the state of Veracruz.  The wife of one of my Spanish professors in Ohio was originally from Jalapa, and we visited her family there.

 

 

 

Dad looking at the dahlias in the garden of a former coffee plantation outside of Jalapa.

 

 

Dad really enjoyed visiting these places that were off the typical tourist route, and he was really impressed with the warm hospitality that my friends showed us.  He didn't speak any Spanish, so I was kept busy acting as interpreter.

 

From Jalapa we made a long journey on twisting roads westward until we reached Taxco, an old, colonial, silver-mining town.  We wandered the cobblestone streets on foot, and visited some of the many silver shops.  Dad bought a silver ring with his birthstone, a ring which I still have and frequently wear.

 

 

 

Dad on the terrace of our cliff-side hotel in Taxco

 

 

He was impressed with the colonial architecture of Taxco, especially the ornate Church of Santa Prisca, built in the 1700s by a wealthy silver mine owner.

 

 

From Taxco we headed south to the resort city of Acapulco.  This was long before the modern four-lane highway that now runs to Acapulco. 

 

 

 

We stopped along the way to take pictures of the enormous cacti by the road.

 

 

Back in those days, places like Cancun and Ixtapa did not yet exist.  Acapulco was the most famous beach resort in the country.

 

 



 

We stayed at this high-rise hotel, Hotel Caleta, which back then was a very nice place.

 

 

 

Dad went parasailing while we were in Acapulco.  For him, it was no big deal, since he was a paratrooper in World War II.  He tried to convince me to go parasailing, but I was chicken.  I told him that I would just stay on the beach and take pictures of him.

 

We flew home from Acapulco.  It was a great experience for both of us, and I had a chance to show my father the Mexico that I had grown to love.