Acapulco 6

Today, we slept in ... Wimbledon was pretty much rained out so I read for a bit and then we went to the pool. Today we opted for the drink of the day (since they were ALWAYS 2 for 1 instead of just at happy hour) which was Coco (Coconut) Daiquiris. After a while at the pool, it was back to the room where I watched an old movie and Mario played on the computer. For supper, I ran over to Rumm-ba Cafe where I picked up Rizzuto for the both of us and came back to the room where we ate. We went out for a bit to see the blue moon rise, went through the gift shop where of course everything was ridiculously over priced, and then back to the room to pack so we can leave in the morning. Checkout is at 10 a.m. UGH! So I guess, unless something untoward happens tomorrow, until next time - Caio.

Acapulco 5

Well, let's see. Today we slept late. We went to the beach. We drank piña coladas, we swam in the ocean, we drank more piña coladas ... Hmmm... sounds like yesterday ... (Something I haven't mentioned, is that we HAVE watched a match of Wimbledon each day. Today, we actually watched the end of a men's match, and then watched Sarena masacre her opponent. I think the other girl one one game. ) Then we went to the pool ... We came back to the room for a bit and relaxed and ate some guacamole and cream cheese sandwiches ... and then we rode with Martin and Mary into Acapulco. Now I probably haven't mentioned it, but the traffic here is horrible. It's a two lane road (and they are working on it so in places there is only one lane). It's probably 15 to 20 miles from here to the other end of Acapulco, but it took us about an hour and a half to get there. We went to watch the cliff divers (Clavadistas Profesionales de Acapulco). In my opinion they should be called Loco Loco.

They start by climbing down the cliff on one side, jumping into the water, swimming the channel and then, as show in our pictures above, the first 2 show them climbing the cliff (loco remember). Two single divers jump from the position of the lowest person in the last picture, then two doubles and a triple jump from the position of the the people closest to the top, then the last one jumps in from the top. They kill the lights for his jump. They have to time their jump so that the waves come in and give them sufficient water to actually survive the jump because when the wave goes out, the channel is extremely shallow. I found this video and although it takes a while to load (on my wireless anyway), it was worth it, I thought.

Acapulco 4

Well, let's see. Today we slept late. We went to the beach. We drank piña coladas, we swam in the ocean, we drank more piña coladas ... Then we went back to the hotel, joined up with Martin & Mary and drove to Puerto Marques and had dinner at the beach there. Puerto Marques is the small bay between Acapulco bay and Diamante. We swam a bit in the bay, which has smaller waves and green water. The sand is more like really small rocks and is a golden yellow. The sand in Diamante is grey and super fine like that in Galveston. We then returned back to the resort where we watched Flatliners and Planet of the Apes. It's good to be on vacation.

Acapulco 3

Have I mentioned that it is HOT here? According to weather.com it is 84 right now - THAT I can believe, but they claim it was only about 90 with 75% humidity today ... Ain't no way it was that cool. Ah well ... watcha gonna do.

We got up this morning about 10 and rode into Acapulco proper with Martin and Mary. I guess I need to do a little geography lesson here.

Acapulco is actually the large bay on the left. We are actually in Acapulco Diamante - noted as Diamante on the bottom right side of the map. Most of the resorts today seem to be located in this area. I would dare say that most of Acapulco proper is frequented more by the locals. Anyway, we went into town to go to the market (el mercado), but after walking a LONG way in the still HOT air (90 my butt), we discovered that most of the market is only functional on the weekend. We ate lunch at a small sea food restaurant called La Cabaña which is on Playa Caleta and walked a bit on the beach there before we headed back toward the resort. This first picture is at the bay, and the second shows the second bay, Diamond Point and the water front looking south. The third is the train that goes around the property. (I was wrong the other day, it's a 4-2-4.)

Mario and I hit the pool (and the piña coladas) for a bit when we got back. We are both starting to get a little burned - Mario on the right side of his legs and his shoulders, me on my left breast and my belly and of course, both of us on our faces.

We had tickets (US$49) for Havana Nite - all the food and drink (more piña coladas) and a show to boot. The food was great, the drinks were strong, and there was virtually NO breeze where we were. Shortly after the guy next to me starting smoking a Havana cigar, I got physically ill and became too hot, and had to call it a nite. Not sure if the cigar really influenced my getting to hot or not, but it definitely put a damper on my evening. But Mario and his folks finished the show and I had a good time too even though it was cut short. After a long cold shower and some gatorade I feel better. Not sure what is on tap for tomorrow.

Acapulco 2

Not much really to say today. We got up, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed down to the beach. We spent most of the day there - drinking piña coladas and had some nachos for lunch. We quit the beach about 4 and went to the pool for a bit, before coming back to the hotel and cleaning up. We then went to Rumm-ba Cafe - a restaurant on the other end of the property specializing in Italian quisine (we had to take the shuttle as it was about a mile away). Mario had the rissuto and I had lasagna. Both were excellent. We then popped by and spent a little time with his folks before coming back to the room. No new pictures - just a little sunburn - but mostly good color ... We'll have to be careful tomorrow though ;-)

Acaplulco - Day 1

*** SKIP THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF MY DAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT MY BITCHINESS. *** Today we woke up at 8:30 to a phone call from guest services apologizing for missing us and welcoming us last nite. They said they had a welcome packet to give us, if we dropped by between 9 and 11. We both fell back asleep and got up about noon. We headed over to registration to find out that they literally meant between 9 and 11. Ultimately we found someone who spoke english to give me a phone number for member services. When I called, they ALSO told us they were only available between 9 and 11. After I explained (quite loudly I'm sure) that they could either see me in a private office or they could see me in the middle of their sales floor - at which point I was fairly sure in short order I would have the attention of ALL their sales people because there would not be any left to sell to. I nice woman met us and spent a couple of hours listening to and acting on most of my complaints and even agreeing that most of my suggestions were good one. Although I do not know if they will all get implemented, at least I felt heard.

*** IT'S SAFE TO START READING AGAIN *** We went from there to the back bar and bought 2 daiquiris. I immediately felt good when I saw the check because it had a line for the total AND THE TIP. When we bought 2 years ago in Cancun, it simply had the total which included an 18% tip (which of course I did not always want to pay). (The tip inclusion was something I complained bitterly about in Cancun - so maybe it really DOES help to complain. LOL) (Mayan is a cashless society - you check in - and there is NO WHERE on the property you can buy anything with cash - sign and go only.)

From there we went to the train station - yes folks - I said train station. There is a little 2-4 locomotive that drags 4 cars of seats around the complex. It circles around Mayan Palace where we are, goes by Grand Mayan and then circles behind the Mayan condos on the other side of the property. We rode it back to Grand Mayan and went up to Martin and Mary's room. Although I like our room, Grand Mayan *IS* the epitome of luxury in comparison. (Of course, we found out there creating Mayan Luxe - which will be even moreso.) The Grand Mayan suite contains a hot tub in the bedroom, and even contains a small 6-8 foot pool on the outside patio.

We left there, drove into town, found a bank for money (no we can't use it here, but we can use it off property LOL), and then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, drinks and dessert - and of course the requisite teddy bear and t-shirt.

From there, a quick stop at Walmart to pick up somethings we forgot yesterday and then back to the resort where I am happy to report, the floor had been mopped - YEAH;-) Mario and I changed and headed out to the pool for a bit - although I got cold after about 30 minutes in the pool. We then headed down to the beach but were warned that the water was quite dangerous and that manta rays had been spotted (and become more prolific after sundown). We decided to head back to the resort and check out the spa (closed but we got a flyer) and the concierge to get dinner tickets for Wednesday nite - all you can eat and DRINK and a show ... Not bad - even for US$45. From there we stopped off at one of the outdoor bars "The Bar" for a couple of drinks before heading back to the room.

More tomorrow.

Taxco

Today, M & I woke up early again - although we did manage to fall back asleep. About 11, we gave up the ghost and went down the hall to see if his folks were about ready to go. They were, so we loaded up the car, and headed back down to the plaza for breakfast. Today, i settled for a banana shake and a plate of fresh fruit. They all had tacos. Then we drove to Taxco - an hour or so away - and the primary economic force there the mining of silver and the artistry in creating jewelry. We hiked to the center of town from where we were able to park the car and saw a few shops before heading back and driving on to Acapulco - a good 3 hour drive down the road. I found the town very similar to small towns in the hills of Italy - Mario said Capri - pretty true I guess. Anyway, we did not have as much time as I would have liked to shop. The pictures of the 3 monks are outside the Temple of the Ex-Convent. The streets are all cobblestone - which hurt to walk on - and have 3 basic colors, black, white and red which were often used to created pictures in the streets like the deer pictured here.

We got to Acapulco around 7pm - Mayan Palace is just off the tollroad - literally right at the foot of it. We got checked in. Martin and Mary are at Grand Mayan which is on the same property. We had hoped we could swap our suite for the hotel room attached to their suite, but no luck. Mario had the maid service come out and change our sheets ... we have also suggested that tomorrow they REALLY need to mop the floor ... we can only hope that the rest of the week will improve from here. It IS nice, however to have a kitchen - even though we probably won't use it for much besides storing drinks and sandwich makings in the refrie.

Ixtapan de la Sal

Friday morning Mario & I got up at 610 so we could make our 910 flight to Toluca, Mexico. We got to the airport with enough time to grab some breakfast at McDonalds, then hopped on our baby plane (an Embrarer - Continental Express Jet) and headed out with no problems. When we landed in Toluca, Mario called Martin and Maricela (his parents) who were picking us up at the airport. They had just driven up. (They had left Reynosa on Wednesday and had gotten to Toluca the nite before.) Probably less than 30 minutes later, we had cleared immigration and customs and gotten outside to meet them. We loaded up in the car and headed to Ixtapan de la Sal. It took us a couple of hours I guess to get here, and we pulled up in front of Hotel y Resteraunte Maria Alejandra.where we took 2 rooms. They don't have A/C, but they don't really need it. The high was probably about 80 and it cooled off very quickly after dusk. With a fan, we were in business. The room was also extremely inexpensive at $150 pesos a person - so $300 for the room - about US$27. We got settled in the room, and then we drove down to the plaza to see the basic town and scout out lunch. We found a place in the plaza where we could have lunch for $25 a person - I think the total bill with drinks was about $160 pesos - or about $15 for the 4 of us. Martin had pollo (chicken) con mole (a chocolaty sauce), and the rest of us had meatballs (albondigas). I had spaghetti and they had rice as well. We can't eat tacos for that for 2 in Reynosa and the food was really great.. The walked through the cathedral - it was really nice, and then we headed back to the hotel to change so we could go "take the waters."

Ixtapan exists because of it's hot (about 100 degrees) natural thermal waters (agua termales) - which are salty (de la Sal) and somewhat radioactive. They are supposed to be great for whatever ails you. We went to one of the local spas called Balneario Municipal "El Bañito". The waters cost us $50 pesons a person (about 4.50) and another 6 for a closet to change clothes in. They have 4 small pools and one large one. Two of the small pools are directly fed by the spring. They in turn feed the large one which feeds to other two. Of those 2, one was the "kids" pool - thank god - and the other was the "mud" pool. They provided local mud so that you could do your own mud mask. The kids pool and the mud pool were the coolest - probably about 90 degrees, with the large pool probably 95. None of us worked our way into the mud pool - although Mario and I did spend a little time in the large pool. We all wound up in the hot pool and stayed there until they closed the place about 6. That in and of itself was interesting, as the guys that staff the place dive into the pools, pull the plugs on the bottom of them and drain them. They then scrub the whole place down with soap and bleach, and I'm sure, immediately start to refill the pools for the next day. They also offered hydro-spas for an extra fee - although those closed at 4pm - so we were too late for them. (The main waters close at 6).

We left and drove around town a bit - including an excursion to the water park to see what they had to offer. While the place was MUCH larger, their thermal water section looked very similar, although they had 1 large indoor pools in addtion to their 2 hot pools, and then they had 2 other large pools outdoors - one which was probably the size of a football field. It seemed to be about air temperature. They then also offer most of the things that are offered by your basic water pack for about US$16 a person. We talked about going back there on Saturday. (The spa pictures in the Ixtapa web page are from there - NOT where we went.)

After we got back to the hotel, we showered, and Mario and I wound up walking a couple of blocks down the street to a taco stand - well small store front really - where we were able to sit down and order tacos for dinner. They were really good. About the time we were finishing dinner, Martin and Mary walked in. We stopped on our way back to the hotel and bought a couple of drinks for later. We got back to the room and I'm sure by 9:30 I was snoring.

Today, I woke up early - about 8:30 and munched down on some cookies for breakfast washed down with some Naranjada (basically a drink made from OJ, water and sugar) that I had bought the nite before and picked up my book. About 10:30 Mary knocked on the door and asked if we were ready to go. I grabbed a quick shower, and coming out of the bathroom (you have to step down about 6 inches), did a nice cheerleader split, busted my big toe nail (think i probably bent the toe back in the process), and landed on my hip. No points awarded for that one. Luckily, I was just bruised. We headed down to the plaza where Martin and I had fresh squeezed OJ, Mario had a banana (platano) shake (with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk). All three for less than a buck a piece. We then went on down to the taqueria where we all had tacos for breakfast.

Then we drove to Tonatico - a small town nearby - where Mario's grandfather used to pilgrimage every year to give thanks to the virgin. The chuch there is nice - and was decorated for a Quinceñera which they started tolling the bells for while we were looking inside. The mariachi band followed the girl to the steps of the church where they serenaded her for at least 15 minutes before we went ahead and left for El Salto - a really nice waterfall (cascada) nearby. For 15 pesos each - a little more than a dollar - we got to go down to see the waterfall (from it's top). It looked like to me it fell about 500 feet. It had a good noise, and a good energy as well, to it. There was a LONG - probably 100 yards swinging bridge (puente) over the chasm below to the bottom of the falls. Downstream you could see a smaller falls and a cave (cueva) that went back into the wall about 50 feet or so above the water. From there, the trail circled back above the falls and a much smaller - about 30 feet - swinging bridge that crossed the upper stream - about 4 feet above the water. Although this bridge was much more rickety, it was easier to cross since if you fell, you didn't have as far to go. lol.

From there we came back to the hotel where we chilled for a bit. I read some, Mario watched TV, and then we decided to go bac to El Bañito for another couple of hours of soaking. We stopped at yet another taqueria for supper before coming back to the hotel. Mario and I walked down to a different market and did a bit of shopping before coming back to the room for the evening. Tomorrow we go to the town of Taxco (known for it's silver jewelry) and then on to Acapulco and Mayan Palace Resorts where we will spend our week.