Acapulco (Mexico) Impressions

It was my second trip to Mexico; it was my wife's first. Acapulco wasn't necessarily our first choice, but it was a reasonable one. We go when and where our RCI timeshares and/or our timeshare exchange company allow us to exchange.

Getting to Acapulco was a piece of cake. Two, two and a half hour flights on Continental Airlines and we were on the ground. Passage through the rather small airport terminal building (see slide show; link to be posted shortly) was quick. That is, until we ran into "timeshare terrorism."

We arrived at our hotel, the Mar Azul, in the tourist part of Acapulco and were fairly quickly moved into our room (even though it was not yet 3pm). As a result, we were in the sun within hours of our arrival.

After a few days in town, we quickly discovered the lay of the land.

Acapulco was once a tourist magnet. But with the opening of other Mexican tourist areas (including a new area near the airport in Acapulco), the original Acapulco took a hit. Part of the reason is that many of the hotels there are older and so, too, is the tourist part of town. Although there were some newer hotels on our strip, much of the area shows its age badly.

Yet, when we walked the tourist strip, even after dark, for many kilometers, we never felt in danger once (except for the uneven and hole-filled sidewalks). We even walked through the old business district with its myriad of sidewalk vendors and small shops. Of course, there are police everywhere, including some with machine guns.

Traffic is a disaster. There are simply too many cars, buses, trucks and service vehicles for the few main coastal thoroughfares (especially Avenue Costera M. Aleman). Thus, the main hotel area always seemed drowned in a cacophony of horns, beeps, sirens and tires-meeting-the-road sounds. Several evenings, while walking, we found ourselves in a rare break in the traffic flow. The resulting almost non-noise level had to be dozens of decibels lower than what typically dulls the senses.

Further, while Mexican drivers seem to avoid accidents, their driving techniques bordered on heart-stopping. We watched daily as cars barely avoided striking cars and pedestrians as their drivers wove their way through blocked lanes, slowly moving traffic, horse-drawn carriages and stopped buses, taxis and service vehicles. It didn't help that street signs and stop signs were non-existent and traffic signals were often broken! Traffic cops in Acapulco, much like in the U.S. seem to make things worse, not better. We finally realized that we had to walk like New Yorkers. Surprise! The Mexican drivers stopped for us. Thank goodness all cars here have excellent brakes and drivers have top-notch reflexes!

If car traffic is bad, so, too, is sidewalk traffic. First, "right hand rule" doesn't work. Pedestrians walk wherever they wish. Even worse, pedestrian groups fan out across the sidewalk and refuse to yield to oncoming pedestrians. Too many times, we had to hold our ground and cause groups to split around us.

The merchants of Acapulco (and especially those at our hotel) were friendly, pleasant and helpful for the most part. But, the cabbies, many of the street and beach venders, restaurateurs and certainly the timeshare sellers simply didn't know when to cease and desist. "Non gracias," did not cut it! When we told these folks no, they had something else they wanted to sell us. And they kept talking to us, even as we walked away. Always the last word, I guess. Or maybe they are deaf from all the loud noises?

While I prefer salesmanship to incessant begging (we did only see and experience a few beggars), selling, too, gets old fast.

Initially, exiting the airport, the main roads looked pretty clean. But we soon saw just how much trash was lying around. There were even street cleaning crews and beach combing staff out to clean it up. And this is with trash receptacles on the beach and along the streets. There was more than enough broken glass to warrant leaving our sandals back in the hotel room.

Still, the beach and the water in Acapulco Bay were mostly litter-free.

The beach is devoid of shells. There were none. But there was a considerable amount of broken up small stones from the granite bedrock and conglomerate deposits that mark the area. The sand along the beach nearer the airport (facing open ocean) is far different than the sand along the shoreline in Acapulco Bay.

But the slope of the beach in Acapulco Bay is incredibly steep. In fact, I think the beach itself is almost its own sand bar. There's easily a 10-foot drop from outside our hotel to the water's edge (over a fairly short distance). And the slope continues, albeit tempered, into the water. So, even with calm waters, waves are rough and undertow strong.

There was also a dearth of birds. It took us four days before we saw pelicans flying along the water. Yet we know there are fish in Acapulco Bay because others staying at our hotel told us about the fishing scene that unfolded along the beach. Several men, drawing a huge net, walked ashore bringing their catch with them. Then we walked past the fishing area near the cruise ship terminal, saw the same netting process taking place and we discovered pelican heaven. The birds were even hanging out on parked fishing boats.

The area does not have a lot of bad smells. There was, however, an odor in standing water areas, especially where runoff ponds near the beach. Here the wading birds hang out, likely finding stuff living in the muck. The only other major odiferous site was at the fish market. Enough said!

We visited only a few local tourist sites - the Chapel of Peace (with a 128 foot tall Cross sitting atop a hill in the wealthy Los Brisas neighborhood), Old Town (which is the old business district and still contains many small shops), Fort San Diego and the world-renowned Cliff Divers. We've also been briefly to the City Market (where scores of vendors operate small stores and booths). The Chapel of Peace, the most spectacular, serves as a place of meditation used by several different religions and is a memorial to several members of the family who built it. They also "rent" burial space in above ground compartments there.

In our travels, we noted that all the trees on the median strip for the main coastal highway were painted white from the ground up to about 3 or 4 feet. We learned from one of our taxi drivers that this was done to protect the trees from insects. I initially thought it had something to do with traffic visibility, since I only saw it along Avenue Costera M. Aleman.

The food in my opinion is just okay. We ate at several local restaurants; but were not pleasantly surprised even by one. As my wife has noted, "I haven't seen any Mexican chefs cooking on the Food Network shows!"

Foods are quite spicy and riddled with salt. Plan to drink lots of water (aqua sin gas) to flush your system. In some restaurants, alcoholic drinks lacked much alcohol.

Not surprisingly, there are many U.S.-based eateries around - Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks and the Hard Rock Café, to name a few. In fact, there are a lot of U.S. companies with a sizeable presence in town - Costco, Wal-Mart, Hunter-Douglas and Coca Cola. In fact, Coke puts up all of the major lighted Christmas trees in Acapulco. Yes, all are adorned with oversized Coke bottle caps and identifying logos.

The hamburgers at the Mar Azul poolside café were top-notch; they weren't pressed like they were at the Mayan Palace. The meals at El Jacalito and El Zorrito, near the Mar Azul, were passable. Acapulco Charlie's, a reasonable walk east on Avenue Costera, had good food and "entertainment" by the waitstaff. Since the restaurant was not very busy, they "played." This included posing for group photos with guests, just "messing around," and even lowering a spider from a fishing line onto unsuspecting passer-bys on the street below. Finally we discovered some outstanding food, thanks to a recommendation from another guest at the Mar Azul. We dined at Forza Italia and thoroughly enjoyed two Italian chicken dishes. The restaurant is about a 30-minute walk east on Avenue Costera. Plan to communicate in Spanish and/or Italian.

For breakfast, on our last day in Acapulco, we chanced upon the "100 Natural Restaurante". We thoroughly enjoyed our healthful and very tasteful breakfast. Franchised throughout Mexico, there is at least one franchise in Coral Gables,

As luck would have it, we discovered not one, but two, gelato shops within a few blocks of our hotel. Both had ice cream that was every bit as tasty as we get back in the States, but far less creamy and not as super sweet. Il Gelato de Pinocchio was the better of the two, thanks to its homemade gelato (with fresh ingredients). Angelo, the owner, and his brother-in-law, Alfredo, even let me into their kitchen and showed me how they made their gelato.

Oh, and the tap water was treated/purified so we didn't have to contend with Montezuma's Revenge! Still, we visited local supermarkets to get bottled water because it was so much less expensive than buying small bottles from the local "OXXO" convenience store or from vending machines.

Pricing definitely favors the tourists. And because of the economy, there are deals to be had. Jewelry, hand-made crafts, and clothing seem to standout as best buys. But, be careful. Buying from street or beach vendors can yield inferior quality merchandise.

Oh, and be prepared for tackiness. There are far too many oversized attention grabbers - crabs, store icons, and caricatures in front of the shops. Yet, they do make for great travel pictures!

On the hotel electricity and technology scene, I must give high marks. The Mar Azul had several available Internet WIFI connections and when one didn't work well, hotel staff set me up with another. Granted that there were slow periods, but I almost always had a connection. Although electric current does not match that of the U.S. and we needed to bring converters with us, we discovered one plug in our apartment unit that provided U.S.-rated current. So, we never needed our converters after all. Good thing, because the converter I bought from AAA would not recharge my Macintosh computer battery!

We can't report on cell phone use because we chose not to try AT & T again to set up an international service for us. That's because they failed so miserably when we went to Europe two years ago.

We avoided any hassles and costs associated with currency exchange by taking care of that before we left the U.S. The good news is that things were really inexpensive in Mexico. So pesos went a long way. Merchants, especially in the markets, expect you to bargain with them.

Finally, as a meteorologist, I must include the obligatory weather report. We specifically chose to come here AFTER the summer rain-filled, hurricane season. Hence, days were a bit less humid, although it still gets fairly warm. Sea breezes help to cool things off during the day. Still, with a high sun angle (Acapulco is at 17 degrees North latitude), the UV Index is high and sunscreen, lip protection, hats, sunglasses and shirts are required wear.

And this high sun angle brought out about the only innovation we saw during our stay. Vendors provided a sun protection service to those parking cars along the beach area. They rented makeshift cardboard box windshield covers with rope handles to attach them to the car's side-view mirrors.

So, one a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give Acapulco a 3.5. On the positive side, we've relaxed, bought a few nice things, seen some interesting sights and just had a good time. The timeshare experience, the un-ending push from vendors and taxi drivers and the litter are definitely negatives.

Still, if you want a low-cost, relaxing vacation in a tropical locale, keep Acapulco on your radar screen. There are many places that aren't nearly as nice.