Lazy Days in Acapulco

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Our vacation destination - Acapulco, Mexico, our vacation time - 7days and our vacation budget – well, pretty low!

            Our arrival was of course not without some drama. We were delayed at LAX for close to four hours so by the time we arrived at Mexico City our flight to Acapulco was long gone with none until the next day. We were cordially provided with room and board at the Fiesta Inn which turned out to be a very nice hotel indeed (this all sounds like it was went smoothly, but there was a lot of walking around and asking to just figure out who could help us at about midnight).

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            On arrival to Acapulco we were immediately engulfed in its heat and humidity (kind of like Lagos) and the very brightly colored airport. I have to say that was my first fluorescent pink airport (sorry no pics, I know very lame). We arrived at our hotel and promptly made our way out to the beach. The hotel, like a lot of others in Acapulco, was right on the bay with direct beach access from your hotel. It is located in the section of Acapulco known as Zona  Dorada. That is like THE happening zone with direct access to the beaches and shopping, restaurants, night clubs and etc. So in terms of location we were right on! The city really never sleeps – be it at 3AM and there are people and cars everywhere, and still a fair amount of stores and restaurants open. At the hotel, we could either lounge by the pool or lounge on the beach with waiters waiting to meet your every need– interspersed with lots of locals trying to sell you anything from massages to bikinis (gets to be kind of a nuisance after a while). Sounds perfect, oh yes it was, but like most things in life too good to be true. The bay unfortunately is contaminated by trash from the city and even after attempts by the government to clean it up its still pretty bad. We got into the ocean water the first day and were kind of put off by the floating stuff around us and the knowledge of all the OTHER stuff we DON’T get to see. It was very unfortunate. The water was really warm and really blue and looked perfect….. We didn’t get in to that water again – stuck to the pool!

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            We took two tours of Acapulco. The first tour took us to Acapulco Diamante, which is the expensive part of Acapulco where we got to see some amazing views and ogle at some of the mansions. That tour also took us to the Princess Hotel, which is an absolutely amazing hotel starting at only about $400/night. Someday….

           The next leg was a drive around Old Acapulco which is the non-touristy part of the city and we ended this by going to see the famous La Quebrada cliff divers.

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            Our second tour was equally, actually even more so fascinating as we were taken to one of the two fresh water lagoons surrounded by salt water in Acapulco. The area is called Pie de la Cuesta and is still very much in its more natural state. We stopped to have some coco-locos on the way and upon arrival were all jolly and ready to party (well almost). The tour of the lagoon was on a rickety canoe that looked just about ready for the saw-mill though it worked just fine with about 10 people in it. Our guide was quie adventurous and took us far in, despite the low tide. At one point he had to get out and push the canoe as it was getting stuck in the mud! We ended with a meal at some restaurant/ rest stop with a pool and direct access to the ocean. It was awesome!

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            We of course went SCUBA diving and it was a totally different experience from San Diego. First the water was like 40 degrees warmer. All we wore were 3mm (vs 7 mm) short suits. No head gear, which actually really sound proofs you. In the naked, the underwater world has its own sounds. The aquatic life was obviously quite different – lots of puffer fish, like really a lot.  There were also a lot of sea urchins which meant you really had to have your buoyancy under control! We saw lots of other fish, whose names I don’t know but it was really cool!

  All in all an excellent time away with lots of sleeping, good food and lots of thoughts on how wonderful it would be to spend life doing nothing but this only in different citiies of the world. So after little contemplation we decided that perhaps it was time we seriously explored this option of travelling around the world seeing amazimg sights and meeting interesting people.  All I can say my dear friends, that no matter where you are I plan on seeing you next year!