01-13 and 14-2010 Acapulco, Mexico and then a day at sea

We arrived early in the morning at the port of Acapulco to foggy, hazy, smoggy skies. Getting from the ship through the gauntlet of hawkers was a bit daunting. Unlike Huatulco, there were no rules about keeping away from the tourists, and we were bombarded with people trying to take us somewhere or sell us something. It was overwhelming. We crossed the very busy main street to check out the Fort of San Diego, high above the bay. I was wishing that my iPhone could work in Mexico because it was hard to tell where the streets were leading.

   
We managed to follow the poorly drawn map through the main square, but the entertainment there was some kind of puppet show, and didn’t seem to have a Mexican theme at all. We checked out the Byzantine white church in the square.    

      
We then wandered up the steep streets to the area where the cliff divers jump. It cost several dollars just to stand and watch them, and the show wasn’t going to happen for hours. We walked along the cliffs, found a place to sit and enjoy the view, and tried to cool down a bit. Acapulco was very hot and smoggy and didn’t feel that great. After a bit of thinking, we decided that seeing the cliff divers wasn’t really worth the long wait for a few seconds of diving and we wound our way back down to the beach.    
   
   
It was lunch time and both of us thought that some good Mexican food would hit the spot. We walked and walked along that famous beach, and couldn’t find a single restaurant that was open. Finally, after some miles, we found a little open air place that was a fish restaurant, and instead of chips and salsa they gave us bread and salsa. geez. We did at least manage a good Pacifica beer. It was surprising that the beaches were empty and the restaurants closed. Not once while we were in any Mexican port did we hear the traditional mariachi bands that used to be everywhere in Mexico. I missed them a lot, remembering long days at Puerto Vallarta and the sound of the constant music.


Hot and tired, we went back on board to nap, and managed to miss dinner again because we didn’t wake up in time. I found myself feeling grateful for one last lovely day at sea before our cruise was over. Later in the evening, as we reviewed our photos, we were amazed at how lovely Acapulco looked. The smog wasn’t evident, the sands looked lovely. It was a good lesson in tourism; photos can be very misleading!

Saturday morning we woke to our usual gentle rocking sea, and planned another round of our normal sea day routines. Breakfast, walking, checking email, back to the pool deck for hot tub and swimming, then a good read. One of the nice things about gentle sea day cruising is the opportunity to converse with new people.  While in the hot tub we met a very interesting woman from the Peace River Country in the Northwest Territories of Canada.  She was a wheat farmer, an artist, and a teacher, and told us some delightful stories about her life, her husband, and her farm.  The Peace River Country has always been a place I would like to see, so I especially enjoyed meeting her.

During the late morning we went up to the 11th deck to tan in the cooler breezes. Lunch at the Seaside cafe was a surprise with a great Mexican buffet, best Mexican food we found on the trip. Spent our afternoon in the Martini Bar playing cards and Mo won again! Back to our room for showers before our last formal night, and we had a ton of fun and laughed ourselves silly taking photos in the mirror of our “dress-up” selves.

   
More photos of our day in Acapulco are here.