Loco in Acapulco

Now, where were we?

We were driving back along that precarious, single track shelf back the way we came.  Through the city centre and along the coast road.

The town beaches were fairly busy with local people, out enjoying the sunshine.  As you can see, our ship was the only one in port today and so we had an ace parking spot!

I always like to observe people on the beach.  Habits as so very different the world over – here, it appeared the main thing to do was to go swimming – no lounging about sunbathing.

We’d been told to expect protest demonstrations, particularly about the price of petrol, which is not only government controlled but has been increased considerably recently.  Sure enough, at several petrol stations we passed, there were people with that distinctive orange banner.

We were headed for the other side of the bay, passing this “fishermen’s beach”, currently quiet but later in the afternoon, when they bring in their catch, it will be the place to buy the freshest and best fish in the area.

We stopped in Papagayo Park, a long established part of the city where there was an unrivalled shopping opportunity to buy jewellery and other trinkets.  As always, I used the time to make a few observations!

Driving through the “gold” part of the city, then; a rather more modern series of hotels and fast food chains, Patricia pointed out the sculpture on top of the Hotel El Presidente awning.  It’s by Salvador Dali and is quite a landmark around here.

At the top of the hill, we made another stop for photographs of the view.

and yes, as we are learning around here, every view comes with the bonus shopping.

This is part of the exclusive “Diamond area” of the city, home to the stars including the Seagram family and Julio Iglesias, whose home, we were told, is the one with a banana shaped swimming pool.  My apologies for the reflection which makes it even more difficult to spot – the best I could do as we turned the corner.

Anyway, the reason for coming this far was to stop at the top for a view of Diamond Point, where luxury condominiums and hotels are surrounded by gold courses and sandy beaches.  Here too is the Black Lagoon , the scene of many films including, we were told, the African Queen and Rambo, too!

As we turned around by the Pierre Mundo hotel complex, we felt that this short tour had given us a good overview of Acapulco.  I’m not sure it’s somewhere to which we’d return in a hurry, but I was glad to have been here and to have seen a new part of the world, especially the cliff divers.

Next stop, Guatemala.  But first, a sea day to play with.