christmas in cuernavaca with christina

notes on cuernavaca:

we mainly chose to come to this place b/c we thought the heading ¨christmas in cuernavaca w/ christina¨ sounded really good.
unfortunately, this city is a tad boring.
we had a super-impressive dinner on our first day here, and an unbelievably pathetic night out afterwards (there are a couple of nice spots to have a drink in this town, but the music is absolutely fucking atrocious).
i spent the next day (christmas eve) wandering around the whole downtown alone, and found great peace and solitude in the grounds of a gorgeous 16th-century cathedral...a fitting setting for the season, even if i´m not really catholic anymore. there were moments of absolute completeness and pure satisfaction there; i sat in a courtyard listening to my ipod and just contemplated life for a while...i know it´s weird for some to comprehend, but i really do love just hanging out with myself sometimes--not all the time--but occasionally, it can be really, really nice to be alone.

cuernavaca is a city that was probably thoroughly charming around 10 years ago, but now it just holds pockets of charm and beauty in certain areas. pretty and sometimes even beautiful structures and homes can be found right next to run-down, unattractive shops and buildings in the historical centre. the juxtaposition can be a bit unsettling, but maybe some find this odd mishmash appealing?
another baffling thing--i´ve passed by vendors in different parts of town trying to sell heaps of electrical cords and plugs, piles upon piles of what i assumed to be car wires and other random parts, and very used porcelain dolls that look like they could star in their own horror movies ... who buys this stuff?!
i walked around everywhere...i even walked to the edges of what appeared to be the suburbs of the city and it all looked very pleasant, if you like that sheltered, two-kids-and-a-nice-family-sized-car (in addition to lots of money and a gated house) kinda life.

technically, however, we spent the majority of christmas day in taxco ("tacos & tostadas w/ tj in taxco"), quite a cute, charismatic town that used to be huge in silver mining. it was all winding streets going uphill and downhill and colonial quaintness. we even rode a swiss cable car over to a secluded hotel up on a mountaintop, which was not exactly what we were expecting to do on a christmas day in mexico...
there was a very photogenic church in the busy zocalo (main square), which was the focus of all the rooftop restaurants in the area.
we saved our appetites for a nice dinner at a swanky spot back in cuernavaca though. (i´ve eaten so much on this trip...i´d be a total chubby pudge-face by now if it weren´t for all the walking i´ve been doing!)
overall, it was a very lovely, lowkey christmas.

next stops: puebla, and then finally the d.f.!