Mexico Revisited: 2013-2014

Feb 11-15 2014 

Acapulco; one of the legendary beaches in Mexico. It is still there, the tourists still come and the beaches, especially the long stretch of beach, Playa Elcano and its extension, Playa Icacos.

We had come on a second class the bus from Puerto Escondido. The day had started out badly. We were at the bus station before 8AM only to be told the bus we had reserved and the 10 AM bus were cancelled due to mechanical problems. We were not pleased as it was at least an eight hour ride to Acapulco but had no choice but to reserve seats on the 2PM bus and return to our hotel in Puerto Escondido. Luckily we could still use our room and enjoy a good lunch in the restaurant before returning to the bus station. We arrived after 10PM in Acapulco, got a taxi to our hotel, Las Torres Gemelas AKA Twin Towers between Costera, the seafront drive along Acapulco Bay, and the beaches of the Zona Dorada. We got our room check and brought our bags up to the 23^rd floor. The room had seen better days, to put it mildly. The air conditioner sounded like a freight train, the bed felt as if the springs were trying to escape and several of the pot lights were ringed in black and didn’t work. At least our balcony had a nice view of Acapulco Bay and the large pool area far below us. We were not pleased but we were tired. We opened the sliding doors to the balcony for ventilation; I dare any robber, not a star in an action movie, to get up to our floor, and went to sleep.

The next day we changed room. Our new room on the 27^th floor was somewhat better, but our opinion was that all the rental rooms need gutting. I spoke with one woman who bought a unit in 1995 when the building was the latest thing in Acapulco. She was one of many who own units in the towers and return year after year, often for several months. The owner’s units we peeked into were at least modernized but not enough to tempt us to consider buying one, even at bargain prices.

That said, we did enjoy the beaches and the hotel pool. Our hotel was in front of a small bay separated by a rocky outcrop from the long expanse of beach called Playa Elcano and its extension, Playa Icacos, lined with high-rise hotels, like ours. The beach in front of our hotel was good for swimming but it didn’t have the length of Playa Elcano for a good walk after a swim.  Our daily routine was to walk a short distance along Costera to the first public access to the beach and then walk along the beach to a restaurant that offered chairs and sun umbrellas for the day. After lunch at a beach restaurant, we would walk back to our hotel and have a last swim in the hotel pool. Each evening we would have a nice dinner at one of the restaurants overlooking the beach; so passed our three days in Acapulco.