(Above: All of the flowers around this door were real and fresh.)
Weather: A day beginning in the low 50s and warming to the low 80s. Sunny throughout.
The morning write-and-walk:
A morning visitor – Kye, Violante’s pet cat. I captured this image shortly after it appeared on my sill. Despite my protests, it walked across the table and my laptop keyboard. I ushered it off the table and proceeded to poke it – actually I think it is a her – with my toe to get shoo her out of my domain. 
Kye proceeded to hop onto this wall and disappear for most of the day thereafter, only reappearing to watch later on as I swept off one of the terraces. 
View from the courtyard to be found just outside of the William Spratling Museum (a place I intend to visit at some point during this trip). 
Sanctuary of the Lord of the Holy True Cross – A cathedral decorated for spring. 
All of the flowers around this door were real and fresh. 
The flowers to either side of the Christ were also real, and all of the ribbons led to a floral wreath hanging from a peg in the center of ceiling. I thought it was interesting how a number of people – almost all men – came in to pray for a brief time during these early hours. 
Picture from the dead-end of one of the streets along which I ventured on the way back to my abode.
Lunch at the Mercado – Excellent food and people – 8/10
On entering the Mercado Tetitlán, I was hailed by a plump Mexican lady to ‘come aquí ‘ (eat here). I was on my way to find lunch at the time, so I heeded her and asked what her favorite item on the menu was. She pointed at an article: Albondigas con especias. That is what I ordered. 
For a starter, I chose the sopa de verduras (vegetable soup). I think I was supposed to have lime with it, but the limes were brought out after I had finished. Fortunately, they could be used for the next portion of the meal, which… 
Ended up being another soup almost exactly the same to that which I had yesterday. Albondiga is apparently the word for meatball. I will note two very positive things about this meal. Actually three. Firstly, I learned from the lady who invited me into the restaurant how to properly eat Mercado soup & tortillas (add a small amount of lime and chimichurri to the soup, roll the tortillas up, and dunk them). Secondly, the tortillas were made by hand after I sat down and thus were fresh and warm. Thirdly, despite the soups being near identical in appearance, the spices utilized in this day’s soup were quite different from yesterdays. I enjoyed this soup a bit more.
Dinner at Aladino’s Restaurante Bar Pizza – Great flavors and presentation and friendly staff. Slightly inconsistent when it came to presentation and heating – 7/10
Dinner tonight took place at Aladino’s of Taxco. It has a decent sized menu consisting of Italian and Mexican food. For beverages, I ordered a seltzer water and a glass of vino tinto (Merlot). 
La Ensalada Mixta. All of the greens were fresh, and the vegetables on top – carrots, onion, tomato, and avocado – were of utmost freshness and quality. My only complaint is that the dressing consisted of store-bought plastic bottles of thousand island or Italian. I ended up using the fresh pico-de-gallo and lime as dressing which actually did pretty well. 
A very sizeable piece of lasagna. The flavor was fantastic, but the inside was not heated all the way through. Served with crusty garlic-bread. 
The whole spread – a satiating and overall enjoyable fare despite its minor inconsistencies.
Final Note: Despite being in a city (an admittedly small one), I feel as if I am more isolated here than anywhere else I have been in quite some time. It is strange being by myself in a place where I do not fluently speak the language, where some people and nearly all the children outright stare at my ostensibly striking height and wardrobe, and where one cannot help but wonder if he is doing things as per local custom or making a full display of gringo-ness. All of these discomforts have caused me to favor remaining in my room and in the courtyards and terraces of Casa Spratling – as a fort of sorts.
One can only do so much at this peaceful residence, though. I swept the terraces, I wrote, and I talked and texted with family via phone. And I still had hours left over. With nothing else to do, I contemplated my situation, and I arrived at a somewhat profound realization. These discomforts are not unlike those I used to experience before jumping into and swimming within one of Florida’s frigid springs. From that experience, I can only imagine that so long as I keep ‘jumping in’, these discomforts – though no doubt still present – will fade into the background while the enjoyment of novel experience emerges at the foreground. [I should add here, though: I feel that everyone could do with a situation like this where they have so much time on their hands that they must take time for contemplation.]
On that note, I’m going to go ‘take another dip’ by going on a walk before breakfast.
Jump in and take us along with you, these posts are terrific! and you know I don’t ever use exclamation points.