I didn’t expect to like Acapulco so much. While it had seemed exotic, luxurious and enticing when I was a teenager and it still had a reputation as the playground of the stars, more recently I’d heard it wasn’t very nice at all.

This impression was wrong. Yes, it’s overdeveloped with too many high rises, but it still has a charm and the most stunningly beautiful bay which comes close to some of the greatest such as Naples. The beaches are long and sandy and the bay is surrounded by hills and lush vegetation. The day of my visit was completely cloudless and very hot, but it was a good dry heat, tempered now and then by sea breezes.

What is sad is the way Acapulco has turned into a crime capital and a centre for drug violence. Wherever you go in the city – including hotels, the museum and walking around the streets – you will find military style police, armed with huge sub-machine guns. US cruise ships no longer call there, following a warning from the State Department, and the number of cruise lines has declined from over two hundred and fifty a year ten years ago, to twenty-six in 2019 – up a little from a low of just eight ships. Of course, now Covid-19 will have delivered another body blow to Acapulco, cutting off all tourism completely. The tourist trade has been hammered, with what used to be a ratio of 90:10 North American: International visitors. AT the time of my visit (late January 2019) that ratio had swung to 90% Mexican tourists. Tour guides must have suffered terribly.

My day-long visit to Acapulco began with the Old Fort, built in the seventeenth century to combat pirates, and now a museum. It was delightful – well curated with numerous artifacts from the Olmec civilisation to the eighteenth century. Stone carvings, model galleons, a royal stage coach, costumes, paintings, statues and carvings. There was an old cistern, used to store water but later converted to a jail – presumably for pirates – the poor captives were thrown down there through a hole in the ceiling of the cistern. Inside were still some nasty-looking chains and manacles set in the walls and an area where the poor unfortunates had carved their names into the stone walls.

Our next stop was La Quebrada to watch the legendary cliff divers. Rather them than me! It was terrifying but despite the ritual happening daily since 1934, no one has ever lost his life. In the photo you can see where they dive from – depending on level of experience it’s just in front of, or a little below, the area where the blue and white huts are.

We paused to look at the Walk of Fame – where famous Hollywood stars are immortalised in plaques in the pavement – here’s Johnny Weismuller, famed for his portrayal of Tarzan.

Our next port of call was The Flamingo, the clifftop hotel beloved by the likes of Errol Flynn and John Wayne. It is a glorious shabby mid-century palace of pink sofas, rattan furniture and straw thatched roofs. No need for windows – the place is cooled by gentle sea breezes from the ocean below. I enjoyed a beer, while checking my emails.

We drove along the heavily-developed beach front and headed for the hills on the opposite side of the bay. We passed through Los Brios – a honeymoon hotel and home of the stars – all the individual units have their own private terrace and pool. Guests are transported on golf buggies named for past celebrity guests. We spotted Sandra Bullock and Steven Spielberg. Above the hotel at the top of the hill is the Chapel of Peace – a spot with views to die for. It is an ecumenical chapel, built by the Trouyet banking family in memory of their two sons who were killed in an aircrash heading back to Mexico City after a party. As well as a giant cross visible from throughout the city, there is a large sculpture of two right hands touching in friendship. The sculpture memorialises the two sons who were “their father’s right hands”. Now the entire family is interred up there – among other smaller family plots.

Back on board I made a rare visit to the Palladium theatre to watch a show featuring local Mexican dancers. It was very good indeed and the dancers wore stunning and colourful costumes. The music ranged from the Pre-Hispanic culture to the Mariarchi. Standing room only! The dancers moved so fast and I was a long way from the stage so my picture was rather blurry. Later I did a quick rough sketch to help me remember.

 

Possible writerly inspiration

I’ve decided to add this section to the end of all my Round the World posts. Nothing here that immediately grabbed me personally – but lots of ideas! feel free to steal!

• The story of a pirate captured by the Spanish and thrown into the filthy dungeon. Who might he meet there? How might they escape? What would be his revenge?
• A young boy born into a family of cliff divers, is absolutely terrified about the idea of diving off those cliffs. His personal struggles, his decision not to do it, the contempt he receives from his father and brothers and the other divers. What kind of future will he make for himself? How will he prove to his family that he is as much a man as them?
• A naive young woman is spirited away on a trip to Acapulco by a B movie star. How does she escape his clutches? What becomes of her?
• A man who has everything – power, money, property, loses his only son in a terrible tragedy, As a result, his marriage breaks up, he loses his sense of purpose and he believes he has wasted his life. He comes to Acapulco, determined to end it all by leaping from the cliffs to his death. What happens? What does he learn? How does the experience change him?

These are just a few random possibilities. But I hope it shows how you can take more or less any situation and make a story out of it.