ACAPULCO, MEXICO is my Husbands favorite place in Mexico. It’s not mine but despite that I have been here 4 times, (once without him for a Travel Agents Convention). We always fly here via Vancouver and connect in Mexico City on JAL, (Japanese Airlines). We do this because there is no connection onward to Acapulco, (and back as well), and as it is an International flight we get our Hotel Rooms for free.
The first time we were here we stayed at a Westin Hotel a 15 minutes from the tourist beaches. The hotel was perched on a Mountain that over looked Acapulco Bay. We were with friends so we shared a cottage and a private pool. The hotel package included a Continental Breakfast, (juice, croissants and coffee), the use of a pink jeep and dinner one night in their dinning room at the top of the mountain. Their pool was an inlet in from the Ocean with a net that hooked onto the two sides of a natural arched bridge. Three things happened at the hotel that I wanted to tell you about. At the time we were living in Edmonton, Alberta and we had never felt a ’rolling earthquake’. We were asleep when it happened and we found ourselves on the floor when we woke up. The walls and floors were still moving and we were scared to death. The second thing is that an iguana lived under the one of the cracks in our sidewalk. He looked so cute when we only saw his nose and eyes peeking out at us. Thank goodness we only saw how hugehe was on our last day there. The last thing is the most important because I saw our maid filling our ice trays with water from the sink. The water in Acapulco is not drinkable and you aren’t supposed to brush your teeth in it. I did report her but we never trusted the ice in our room again.
The down town area of Acapulco is half an hour from the tourist beaches. We went there to see the old Catholic Church and visit the large outdoor market. The taxi driver sped down the mountain and through the tourist areas and dumped us in front of the Church. My mouth dropped when I saw thousands of people, (their legs were bare), crawling toward the Church. Most of their legs were bleeding and I could not believe the Priests would allow this. I was later told that this was their way of doing penance, (like when I fast at Yom Kipper). I believe this was my first lesson on not to judge other people. After we saw the Church we went to the market. Young boys were outside offering to ’take us on a tour’ for a dollar. We refused and we were very sorry as the market is a maze and ’Montezuma’ took his revenge on all of us and we couldn’t find a bathroom. We did find a young boy who charged us 2 dollars to show us the bathroom and then take us to the shops we wanted to see in the market. The bathroom was another first for us. It was one huge room divided in half by a cement wall as high as my Husband’s shoulders. Each sex had their side to go to. When Esther and I got to our side we saw rows of hole that we had to squat over. If we weren’t so sick you couldn’t have paid us a million dollars to go into that room but we just didn’t care at that point and rushed to a hole. As soon as we were finished we turned around and there was a man holding out one square of brown paper, (that we had to pay for), to wipe our ’tushs’! I never traveled without a small package of tissues after that. The man also was the person who hosed down our ’wastes’. At this point I realized I had eatten beef the night before and it must have been the beef that had made me ill both in Puerto Valarta and here. I never ate beef in Mexico again.
The young man took us through the market and was nice enough to carry our packages. This time we stayed in the middle of the tourist area at the Sheraton Hotel, (the hotel is still there but it has had a few name changes). We were able to walk to most of the morning and afternoon beaches, the cafes, a few discos and small boutiques stores that we wanted to see. We took a taxi to the Canadian Pacific Hotel that was on a cliff overlooking sunset beach. We had a drink, watch the red sun suddenly drop into the sea as the famous cliff divers dove into the ocean. It was spectacular! Every time I’ve been to Acapulco I go to a cafe on the afternoon beach. There are five cafes there and I don’t remember the name. It wouldn’t help you if I did as the names change at night. This particular one has a live monkey outside. The third time I was in Acapulco was on business and we were at the Convention Hall 90 percent of the time. The last time we went was 10 years ago. We stayed at the Camino Riel and it was great. Our package included breakfast and one other meal. We did go into the tourist area twice and what a change. There were new malls everywhere. Mexico had been a duty free port for all electronics’ and the things they made. This was the first time we took a buggy ride to see some Cruise ships sail into port. SOME THOUGHTS: Acapulco has everything a summer tourist spot has: golfing, tennis, deep-sea diving, deep-sea fishing, balloon rides and jungle tours. Acapulco is my second favorite place and I’d go back in a minute. ©LL