Acapulco

Sorry no photos - I think the problem is more with Blogger and Safari than the internet. I'll keep trying - but sorry there is only lots of prose!

Scroll down to see my impressions. Here is some history.


Acapulco (officially known as Acapulco de Juárez) is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States. The city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo and as well, Mexico's largest beach and balneario - resort city, though latterly it has been eclipsed by Cancun and Cabo.
The city is best known as one of Mexico’s oldest and most well-known beach resorts, which came into prominence by the 1950s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco is still famous for its nightlife and still attracts many vacationers, although most are now from Mexico itself. The resort area is divided into two: The north end of the bay is the “traditional” area, where the famous in the mid 20th century vacationed and the south end is dominated by newer luxury high rise hotels.
The name "Acapulco" comes from Nahuatl language Aca-pōl-co, and means "At the big reeds" or “At the broken reeds.” “de Juárez” was added to the official name in 1885 to honor Benito Juárez, the former president of Mexico. The seal for the city shows broken reeds or cane.

Another enigmatic attraction at Acapulco is the La Quebrada Cliff Divers. The tradition started in the 1930s when young men casually competed against each other to see who could dive from the highest point into the sea below. Eventually, locals began to ask for tips for those coming to see the men dive. Today the divers are professionals, diving from heights of forty meters into an inlet that is only seven meters wide and four meters deep, after praying first at a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

By the eighth century, there was a small culture in the Acapulco area, which would first be dominated by the Olmecs, then by a number of others during the pre-Hispanic period. Later, Teotihuacan influence made its way here via Cuernavaca and Chilpancingo. Then Mayan influence arrived from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and through what is now Oaxaca. These people were the antecedents of the Aztecs. Acapulco formally became part of the Aztec Empire in 1486 during the reign of Ahuizotl. Then came the Spanish.
There are two stories about how Acapulco bay was discovered by Europeans. The first states that two years after the Conquest, Hernán Cortés sent explorers west to find gold. The explorers had subdued this area after 1523, and Captain Saavedra Cerón was authorized by Cortés to found a settlement here. The other states that the bay was discovered on 13 December 1526 by a small ship named the El Tepache Santiago captained by Santiago Guevara. The first encomendero was established in 1525 at Cacahuatepec, which is part of the modern Acapulco municipality. In 1531, a number of Spaniards, most notably Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte, left the Oaxaca coast and founded the village of Villafuerte where the city of Acapulco now stands. Villafuerte was unable to subdue the local native peoples, and this eventually resulted in the Yopa Rebellion in the region of Cuautepec. Hernán Cortés was obligated to send Vasco Porcayo to negotiate with the indigenous people giving concessions. The province of Acapulco became the encomendero of Rodriguez de Villafuerte who received taxes in the form of cocoa, cotton and corn.

Cortés established Acapulco as a major port by the early 1530s, with the first major road between Mexico City and the port constructed by 1531. Spanish trade in the Far East would give Acapulco a prominent position in the economy of New Spain. Galleons started arriving here from Asia by 1550, and in that year thirty Spanish families were sent to live here from Mexico City to have a permanent base of European residents. Acapulco would become the second most important port, after Veracruz, due to its direct trade with the Philippines. This trade would focus on the yearly Manila Galleon, which was the nexus of all kinds on communications between New Spain, Europe and Asia. In 1573, the port was granted the monopoly of the Manila trade.
The Manila Galleon would make its yearly run from the mid 16th century until the early 19th. The goods were off-loaded in Acapulco and transported overland to Vera Cruz on the east coast – from there the goods went to Havana where all the Spanish treasure ships assembled for the run across the Atlantic to Spain. The luxury items it brought to New Spain attracted the attention of English and Dutch “pirates”, such as Francis Drake, Henry Morgan and Thomas Cavendish, who called it “The Black Ship.” To protect the port and the cargo of ships coming here the San Diego Fort was built. Despite the fort’s existence, a Dutch fleet invaded Acapulco in 1615, destroying much of the town and fort before being driven off. The fort was destroyed by an earthquake in 1776 and was rebuilt in 1783. At the beginning of the 19th Century, King Charles IV declared Acapulco a Ciudad Official and it became an essential part of the Spanish Crown. However, soon after the Mexican War of Independence began. In 1810, José María Morelos y Pavón attacked and burnt down the city, after he defeated royalist commander Francisco Parés at the Battle of Tres Palos. The independence of Mexico in 1821 ended the run of the Manila Galleon. Acapulco’s importance as a port recovered during the California Gold Rush in the mid 19th century, with ships going to and coming from Panama stopping here.
In 1911, revolutionary forces took over the main plaza of Acapulco. In 1920, the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VIII visited the area. Impressed by what he saw, he recommended the place in Europe, making it popular with the elite there. Much of the original hotel and trading infrastructure was built by an East Texas businessman named Albert B.Pullen in the area now known as Old Acapulco. But some of Acapulco’s best known hotels were built by others. In the mid 1940s, the first commercial wharf and warehouses was built. In the early 1950s President Miguel Alemán Valdés upgraded the port’s infrastructure, installing electrical lines, drainage systems, roads and the first highway to connect the port with Mexico City.
The economy grew and foreign investment increased with it. During the 1950s, Acapulco became the fashionable place for millionaires and Hollywood stars. From a population of only 4,000 or 5,000 in the 1940s, by the early 1960s Acapulco had a population of about 50,000. During the 1960s and 1970s, new hotel resorts were built, and accommodation and transport were made cheaper. It was no longer necessary to be a millionaire to spend a holiday in Acapulco, the foreign and Mexican middle class could now afford to travel here. However, as more hotels were built in the south part of the bay, the old hotels of the 1950s lost their grandeur. During the 1990s, the road known as the Ruta del Sol was built, crossing the mountains between Mexico City and Acapulco. The journey only takes about three and a half hours, making Acapulco a favorite weekend destination for Mexico City inhabitants. The port continued to grow and in 1996, a new private company, API Acapulco, was created to manage operations. This consolidated operations and now Acapulco is the major port for car exports to the Pacific.
Currently, the drug war in Mexico has had a negative effect on tourism as rival traffickers fight for control of the Guerrero state.

My impressions:

Acapulco has developed around a lovely natural harbor surrounded by dramatic hills. The bay is lined with hotels, condos, shops, restaurants, etc. I originally thought I might go out and see the divers…but changed my mind….they are no longer locals doing it for pennies. They are professionals with their hands out at the end of the display and they do only one daytime dive. So I figured I didn’t really need to see them after all. So I went off with Olga to walk the old town and look at the cathedral. Olga loves the grotesque Spanish crucifixes. I can’t bear them…I’ve seen enough in Spain. This unusual Byzantine-style 20th-century cathedral, the Cathedral de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, did not disappoint…..it had a coffin lined with white satin in which lay a life-size replica of Jesus with real long black hair…and, of course, wounds. In my photo, it looks all too lifelike. The cathedral is on the Zócalo, a shaded square in the old section. On the way to the cathedral, we stopped in at a couple of large mercados (markets), but did not buy anything. On the way back to the ship, we visited the Fuerte de San Diego, mentioned above. It has been well preserved and is well maintained. It is now home to the Museo Historica de Acapulco with very interesting and well-planned exhibits.

I nearly got myself killed crossing the road where we shouldn’t have! I figured I’d survived Saigon and Cairo. Well, this was pretty scary. We got halfway to the middle divider and Olga turned back because it was a drop down to the other side. I found myself stuck in the middle with traffic coming at quite a speed…I managed straddle the middle divider and waited for an opening on the other side. I dropped down and I made it. Olga followed. Yes, I am mad. Well, we both were.

After a late lunch on the ship and a lie-down it was time to toast Robbie Burns’ birthday in the Commodore Club with mal scotch all around. After dinner, the show was an interesting act from Argentina: drumming (??- don’t know how typically Argentinean this is), dancing, whip tricks and bolo twirling (for lack of a better description). The last part was excellent, but not as good as the ones I saw in Rio. Still pretty amazing.