yet - lights out by 10.30pm! Maybe it had something to do with the
margarita's ? It was probably a combination of those, the rocking night
before and a long day in Hautalco....... And so we woke up a tad more
rested this morning.... early, but rested. I just love being up on the
top deck when coming into port - its a whole adventure in of itself. So
with the sun rising and Acapulco waking up, we eased into the bay - and
then turned around and went in backwards! We glided past some
incredible scenery, watching the night lights slowly flickering out as
the sun lit the sky and Acapulco showed us her colors. The hills are
filled with houses all painted different colors, on the left of the bay
are the 'normal' size housing and on the right the hills were splattered
with huge, sprawling homes of the rich and famous. On this side, right
at the top of the tallest hill, stands a huge cross - towering way about
everything - very impressive. I much preferred the older part. And
yes, we came in backwards. As the ropes landed on the jetty, the
traffic was already picking up and we could hear the city starting to
roar. And it did all day long.
We headed off the boat to find our tour guide - and ended up on a mini
bus with only five of us. One guy was from Croatia, but lived in
California but did not speak English well at all - he smiled a lot. The
other couple had done this cruise before, done Acapulco before and were
not impressed by anything at all. They had words with the tour guide
really early on which really did not help matters. From the start we
all felt that the guide was.......well, otherwise occupied. He was slow
and sort of rude and short and so on...but there was no need to be rude
to him.
Anyway - first we headed to the Pacific side to the Flamingo Hotel where
some famous films were made, Elvis and Rambo and ...... well, I bet you
all know better than I do who made their movies there - Tarzan maybe?
Evidently I was not listening too well, but then the "rich and famous"
never really impressed me at all. But that hotel was all pink, with
coconut hulls hanging everywhere, the most incredible views of the ocean
and the cliffs........ no wonder it was a popular place.
And then, after being left there for too long by the guide, which
further irritated the 'been there done that' couple, and totally put the
Croatian into a flap, we left there and headed to the shopping part of
the tour - all jewelry that none of us were interested in, but the guide
had to take us there for a while. Unfortunately the guide left us there
too long again which did not help the vibe at all. Soon after we all
mutinously stood together at the mini bus, we headed to the other side
of town - right to that cross that is way up on the hill towering over
the rich and famous people and places. But first we passed the beaches
- all along the main drag where everyone and their brothers went to
visit, seeing as it is one of the busiest weeks in Acapulco! The
traffic is incredible....... no, replace that word with 'ridiculous'. I
would never drive here. It's not quite as bad as Ecuador, but still
totally crazy. Cars squeak through openings that I did not think a
bicycle could get through. The beaches looked good but were thickly
packed even by 9.30am. For a good many miles there are no buildings
along the beach - it is free to everyone and no building is allowed
along this stretch - and then the hotels start and the ocean is lost to
view apart from little slits between buildings.
And so up we went, up yet another steep road with incredible views. The
guide, Larry, kept on talking and asking questions and no one answered
and I was in the front seat - or was that 'the hot seat'. I just could
not let his questions go unanswered, or sit silently as he tried to get
the group moving, and there we a good few times when it seemed easier to
walk up that road than to keep the conversation going in that van. But
the views were amazing - there is a tall ship in port too - she is sleek
and white and looked stunning this evening with all her lights lit up
all the way up those masts. The houses on this end of town seem to be
built with money itself. One guy build a house, sold it a short while
later...... the guy that bought it loved the house so much that he had
it demolished - only to rebuild it exactly as it was - just so that he
could say he built his own dream house. Now THAT should be an illegal
waste of money! This area is being built as the "diamond class' of
everything - this is way above the 5 star class hotel. One place here
is famous for honeymooners and each room has its own indoor swimming
pool, as well as an outside one.
Anyway - the place where we were headed to is called the Chapel of Peace
and it consists of that huge cross thats on the top of the hill and a
Chapel and masauleum - dont know how to spell that...... It was
privately owned by the parents of two boys who died at the same time in
some or other of the wars of the country. They vowed to build something
in honor of their sons - and they did. The view from there is beautiful
and it really is beautifully peaceful and quiet. The Chapel is stark in
its plain-ness, but its soothing, with a very light and airy feel -
along with ......well, everyone went quiet as they walked in there. And
there is a statue of two hands - the boys' hands - a huge statue.
After that, we headed back down again to the Fuerto de San Diego - a
fortress that was right opposite where the ship lay waiting for us. By
now the 'btdt' couple was almost mutinous and the Croatian disappeared
at every turn, absolutely irritating the peace out of poor Larry who was
by now at his wits end. We had an afternoon tour to meet up with and
Larry kept on saying that 'all going well, we will make it in time'.
Well, that sort of played on Frank and my nerves too, and we were all
really ready to leave the fort and get back . And Larry made that
happen too. Frankly, the tour was not the best by a long way, but I
really felt sorry for Larry when, at the very end and after the other
three had stalked off, he asked us if we thought he did an ok job
because he felt a 'vibe from de odder peeple". Poor man - we just did
not have the heart to tell him that we hoped he had better days, or at
least a night job......so we told him that he was fine, gave him a tip,
told him not to worry about the others and trotted off to meet the other
tour.
I thought I had booked the boat ride to see the cliff divers. Not. I
looked at the tickets and read "City tour and Cliff Divers". Oh heck oh
heck - another city tour?? But after being greeted by the new guide we
hopped on the much bigger bus and headed out again - straight back to
the shop we were nearly held a mutiny on poor Larry.... Sigh. But this
time we headed to the Cliff Divers first.
Oh boy were they just amazing. There you have cliffs of about 160 foot
tall with these young men standing on the sides and top getting ready to
dive off. They only have a narrow strip of water to dive into and when
they start their dive they cannot even see the water - they have to push
off hard from where they stand to hit the water - but not too hard or
they will hit the other cliff on the other side! I am going to try to
put a photo in with this email to show you what I mean. Anyway, as we
found a place to get the best view, these young men, about eight of
them, scrambled up and down the cliff, stretched, waved and got
themselves ready for yet another show. On the very top of where they
dive from are two little places for them to pray before taking the
leap... and they all use those tiny chapels.
And then it was time for them to jump........... oh boy. They pray
first, then go to the dive spot, stretch again, wave and then turn and
look at the water, watching the waves, timing the waves... They have to
jump exactly at the right time when the water is at its deepest of
around 24 foot. Not much at all. Then up go the arms, head down and
the slow and graceful arc starts. All of us watching held our breath as
they jump, one by one, hitting the water and then clamoring back up that
wall. 5 jumped from about 120 feet up the cliff face, then two jumped
together, sailing down gracefully together and the last one jumped from
the top - a height of around 150 foot up...... What an incredible jump
that was - it went on forever and was over in just a couple of seconds.
So beautiful. So insane.
These guys train from around 13 years old and the divers of today were
all between 18 and 25 years old. Right after watching the cliff divers,
there was a show of some dancers in some very beautiful costumes. I
stood up on a balcony and got some really good photos of them and their
shadows...... They were all very beautiful, very lithe and very fit -
the guys very handsome and well built and the ladies just perfect. But
my mind was still on the cliff divers....... and then we got to meet
them too - there they stood, still dripping wet from another successful
jump. They are so young! Quite amazing.....but I guess those are the
years to do something as crazy as this. They have become so successful
that they apparently have unionized! They get paid ok, after about 5
years of training, but really need any tips, so we gladly obliged.
Then off to see the rest of the city - again. But this guide was fun
and funny and we did see a good many other things too..... We stopped at
view points that we were not able to earlier in the day and although
much of the time after the cliff divers was spend on the bus with only
short breaks - our feet were happy and we really enjoyed it. We had met
up with another couple we have seen many times on board - Nina and Hal.
She clicks away just about like I do and just 'gets' why i take photos
of crazy things. Both Hal and Frank just quietly shook their heads as
we got chatting. We were going to meet up tonight, but that did not work
out - maybe sometime tomorrow :)
And so we got back to the ship about an hour before sailing time. We
were really hungry as we had missed lunch because of the combination of
tours - only snacking on guavas and jerky/biltong. As good as they both
were, it was just not enough...... so we hustled ourselves on board,
grabbed a beer and headed up to eat and then to stand on deck as we left
port - again at sunset. This time we had a really big crowd of wavers
and for some reason it choked me up just watching those flashes going
off, the enthusiasm of the waving, listening to the yelling and the
goodbye's - just lovely. Some smaller boats came closer to yell and
wave goodbye and for a good long while after we were off the jetty, we
could see camera flashes popping. The lights of Acapulco glistened like
gems almost all around us as we headed out to sea - really pretty.
Its late again now, and its been a really good day. I can hear that
lovely bow wave crashing and the ship has almost a wobble in it tonight
- not quite a shudder like the other night, but getting closer it
seems. Time to close today..... Tomorrow, Wednesday, we have a day at
sea - lovely time to rest up. The next stop is Puerto Vallarta where we
go way up into the mountains again to the mining town of San
Sebastian... This is a town that was originally settled in 1605 and
still has the original cobbled streets...... more about it later. This
chapter has become a book all in itself...... till next time
Love and light
Annie
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