We arrive just around noon, which is a good thing, because we have booked Historical, Picturesque & Cliff Diversas our excursion that begins at 12:45pm.
Immediately upon boarding our van, we are to go to “La Quebrada” to watch the world famous Cliff Divers at 1:00pm. We have a quick lunch at Waves Grill, get our bus assignment from Destination Services and leave the ship. In the terminal, we are greeted by beautiful young women and escorted to our waiting bus – which is a van, not a bus. Great news.
Off we go into the narrow streets of the older part of the city. It only takes about ten minutes or so for our guide (and driver) Victor to get our 10-passenger Ford van to the area to watch the La Quebrada Cliff Divers. Our timing is perfect, so we end up with great spots from which to take photos.
The schedule called for a 1:00pm performance, but it is 1:10 before we see any of the men that will be diving. One by one they hit the water from the low end, opposite the cliffs, and one by one they climb to the top at the high side. Yes, first they climb from the water to the point where they will dive. That in itself is an accomplishment. At the top, they pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe before their dive.
They will jump from two heights, 100 feet and 135 feet. The water they will dive into runs from 16 feet to 19 feet deep, depending on the waves. In other words, timing is critical. And the cliff off of which they will dive does not go straight down, so they must dive out as well as down. Our driver says to us: “I don’t know whether they are brave or crazy!”
They dive singly and in pairs. They dive straight into the water, but sometimes they do a flip on the way down. The show lasts for about a half an hour, and it is a thrill to watch. Our guide tells us that they have been doing this since the 1930s, and it is a family that is principally involved, although they all do belong to a diver’s union. There are around 45 of them now and their ages vary considerably, from teenagers to men in their fifties. The 2002 Guinness Book of World Records lists this as “the highest regularly performed headfirst dives” in the world, according to Wikipedia.
Cathy’s knees were getting to her what with all the standing, so she headed off earlier than me to our next stop. Can you guess what it might be? Yes, you got it. A gift shop! Located right near the cliff divers. I meet her there and we have a quick refreshment before we proceed on our tour.
We are headed for Los Flamingoes Hotel. Here is a description from the famoushotels.org website describing it: “This gorgeous hotel was built in the 1930’s. Located on top of the highest cliffs of Acapulco, 450′ high. With spectacular views of the open sea , and to Roqueta island. The hotel was sold in the 50’s to the famous “Hollywood gang”, led by John Wayne, Johnny Weissmuller (the first Tarzan), Fred McMurray, Rex Allen, Errol Flynn, Red Skelton, Roy Rodgers, Richard Widmark, Cary Grant, etc. who left their memories and tracks of their lives in the hotel. It enjoys a unique location, allowing a view of magnificent sunsets and a continuous breeze from the ocean through the lush vegetation of our gardens.” It was actually turned over to the staff back in the 1980s by the Hollywood actor owners. It needs a little more refurbishment, but it exudes charm and grace even now, and was funky in a cool way. The day we are there, presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya (Mexico is having an election on July 1st) is a guest.
We are given a quick tour of some of the outside areas, and are all seated on a veranda to enjoy a beer, soft drink or water while Victor gives us more information about Acapulco. Oddly, a mother raccoon wanders into our area, and our guide says that is not uncommon as there is a lot of wildlife living on the grounds.
Our next stop is the highest point in the city, at 1,250 feet. To get there, we drive through a very exclusive neighborhood mostly built back in the 1960s and 1970s. The houses are built right on the side of what can only be described as a cliff. No wonder the places cost so much. Just to find acreage enough to locate a home would be expensive, let alone the construction costs.
Our destination is the Capilla de la Paz (Chapel of Peace) with its 128-foot high Trouyet Cross. Mr. and Mrs. Trouyet built the cross and the chapel as a memorial to two of their sons who died in a plane crash in 1967. The chapel is gorgeous and the cross can be seen for miles. The Trouyets are buried there and the last child, a daughter, lives in the area. He was a businessman closely connected to the president of the country back in the 1950s through the 1970s. Almost everyone who comes to Acapulco makes the trek to this beautiful spot. It is very peaceful, the grounds are beautifully kept and, of course, the views of the city and its harbor are breathtaking.
We come down out of the hills and drive through the Golden Zone where the hotels built in the 1980s are located. These hotels were opened by American chains but are mostly now owned by Mexican or Spanish companies. We have been in the Traditional Zone when we watched the divers and visited the Los Flamingoes Hotel. The newest hotels are located in Diamante, the Diamond Zone. Here is some other information that Victor gives us enroute to our last stop:
- Acapulco understands that other Mexican cities are getting most of the North American tourists. Places like Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun are the big draw now. Because Acapulco is only a four-hour drive from Mexico City, most of the tourists come from there. The drive is on a toll road built not too long ago. The toll is around US$30 each way. It’s expensive but worth it; otherwise it’s a 9-hour drive.
- The federal government has put a lot of effort into making Acapulco a safe place.The drug cartels have given the city the reputation of being dangerous, but virtually all of the violence is drug gangs fighting one another. We actually see an army truck ahead of us with two armed soldiers patrolling.
- There are two auto assembly plants not far from Acapulco, so it is a big export port for those two plants. We actually see rows of white cars parked near our ship.
- Guerrero State, in which Acapulco is located, is heavily agricultural, growing mangoes, papayas, avocados, coconuts and star fruit.
- In Acapulco, there is a university with a course of study that enables people to become federally certified tour guides, of which Victor is one.
- Today is a humid day, which is unusual this time of year. The reason is that Tropical Storm Carlotta paid Acapulco a visit a few days before our arrival.
- The rainy season customarily runs from June through September.
- Many of the cabs are Volkswagen Beetles, mainly because there was an assembly plant nearby that made them. The plant is now closed.
- Acapulco is considered one of the world’s five best harbors, the others being San Francisco, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney.
We arrive at our last stop, the Fuerte de San Diego, built by the Spanish Empire to protect Acapulco from pirates. It was completed in 1617, severely damaged in an earthquake in 1776 and rebuilt. It was one of the most important forts along the Pacific coast, primarily because Acapulco was the destination for the Manila Galleons, which Cathy and I heard all about when we visited that Philippine city. Here is part of a Wikipedia article on them: “The Manila Galleons (Spanish: Galeón de Manila; Filipino: Kalakalang Galyon ng Maynila at Acapulco) were Spanish trading ships which for two and a half centuries linked the Philippines with Mexico across the Pacific Ocean, making one or two round-trip voyages per year between the ports of Acapulco and Manila, which were both part of New Spain. The name of the galleon changed to reflect the city that the ship sailed from. The term Manila Galleonsis also used to refer to the trade route itself between Acapulco and Manila, which lasted from 1565 to 1815.
The Manila Galleons were also known in New Spain as “La Nao de la China” (The China Ship) because it carried largely Chinese goods, shipped from Manila.
The Manila Galleon trade route was inaugurated in 1565 after Augustinian friar and navigator Andrés de Urdanetadiscovered the tornaviaje or return route from the Philippines to Mexico. The first successful round trips were made by Urdaneta and by Alonso de Arellano that year. The route lasted until 1815 when the Mexican War of Independence broke out. The Manila galleons sailed the Pacific for 250 years, bringing to the Americas cargoes of luxury goods such as spices and porcelain, in exchange for silver. The route also created a cultural exchange that shaped the identities and culture of the countries involved.”
Victor takes us through the fort, which is now an excellent museum. It was very interesting to see all the exhibits about the Manila Galleons from Mexico’s perspective as we had seen it from the Filipino perspective not two months prior. He also made an interesting comment about Acapulco being the first world trade center. Many of the trade goods that arrived or departed the city for Manila were either destined for or came from Europe. After the galleons unloaded in Acapulco, much of their cargo would be transported across Mexico and loaded on ships bound for Europe, and vice versa.
We spend about a half hour at the fort/museum, and could have spent three hours, but Victor rightfully detected that his charges were fading fast. We had been outdoors in he heat and humidity for four hours and it was time to get back to air-conditioned Insignia. So we do just that.
We return to our stateroom. Cathy turns on the television and, lo and behold, the Elvis Presley movie Fun in Acapulco, made in 1963, is on. The timing could not have been better. What we noticed first was that the La Quebrada area where the cliff diving takes place is exactly the sameas it was fifty-five years ago. Exactly the same! Amazing. However, the hills that were all green in 1963 are now covered with houses. It was so much fun to be watching this movie and then look out on the city. Our friend Margie told us that during the filming, Elvis was not allowed to do the dive of his character. Not because he wasn’t an experienced diver, but because he wasn’t in the divers union!
We decide to eat dinner in the Terrace Café. There is a park next to the ship, and there is an exercise class going on that we watch. Plus many walkers and runners. A very lively scene in a most interesting and busy city. We have the opportunity to discuss the city with one of the wait staff, a young man from Mexico City named Victor (like our guide). He reflects the current opinions that Acapulco is no longer the premier destination it was, and he laments the uptick in violence that is damaging its reputation. It’s a shame because it seems like a pretty nice place.
The ship is having a Mexican Fiesta Party on Deck 9 from 8:30-10:00, but as usual we are too tired to participate. Besides, there is another time change tonight, so we take advantage of that as an excuse. We do stay up long enough to watch a beautiful sunset.
We are very glad to have visited this city. It is no longer that glitzy, celebrity-drenched hip must-see place it was in the 60s and 70s and 80s, to be sure. But it is very funky for all of that. It is a beautiful place with nice people, and, who knows, someday it may make a comeback. It certainly has the beauty, the beaches and the climate. And a million residents that will work to keep it on the map as an excellent tourism destination. We wish them the best.
