The Skinny on the Skinners: Acapulco Nights

Sorry it has taken me so long to post! Last week we were pretty busy and then this weekend our internet wasn't working very well. BUT it's working now. So last weekend Calvin and I went to Acapulco. When we got here to Mexico we were talking to Jeremi and Rebecca and they asked us what we did for our honeymoon. When we told them that we used the money that we were going to spend on a honeymoon to come here to Mexico they felt kinda bad. So one night the other week they said that they thought that we should have the "honeymoon experience" so they bought us bus tickets to Acapulco and paid for the hotel for three nights. We were very surprised and so grateful! Who does that? I don't know if any of you have seen undercover boss but Calvin said he felt like he was on it. Cause Jeremi was like "We just want to do something nice for you guys". Our good friend Marvin who works here planned the whole thing. Anyways so we left Saturday morning and took a five hour bus ride to Acapulco. I was interested to see what the city was like. As of late usually the only news you hear about there is bad stuff (drugs, murders, etc). I did a little research about it before we went and I guess two of the drug cartels are fighting over the route that goes through there and that is why there have been so many killings. I think I found that there was over 1,000 killings there last year. It is a huge tourist town for college students and this year all of the American universities band their students from going to Acapulco. I was talking to one of our taxi drivers and he said that it has been pretty much dead this year.

On the way there this cute little family with 4 kids sat in front of us. They lived in Georgia for a while so the kids spoke English. They had a fun time playing with us on the way there. One of them was this little boy named Sebastian and he was 2 years old and sooooooo cute. He was leaning over the back of his seat (facing us) and all the sudden he got this really sick look on his face and he threw up....all over Calvin! It was kind of funny. Anyways so the bus ride was about 5 hours long. It was really pretty too. And they showed movies the whole way there so it wasn't a bad bus ride at all. When we got there we took a taxi to our hotel. Our hotel was beautiful! It was surrounded by cliffs and look out over the ocean. When we got to our hotel there were a bunch of people there with cameras. We were so confused. Then we found out this famous lady (see picture below) was there. At our hotel they put on a show throughout the day of divers diving off a really big cliff. And they were putting on a special show for this lady. I guess she got lady of the year last year in Mexico and she was on some telenovelas (soap opera) at some point. At night right outside of our hotel there were hundreds of people that came every night to see the diver show. It was really cool there were street vendors everywhere.

The swimming pool at our hotel looked out over the ocean and was so pretty. The first day we got there we went down to go swimming and there were quite a few people there. We got in and started swimming. There were three like 12 year old girls swimming next to us. And so Calvin says to them "do you want to play a game?" And then he went on to explain that they would do a competition to see who could hold their breath for the longest. He said that he would go first to show them how to do it. Then he started explaining that the best way to do it is to take lots of fast breaths in and out for about a minute and then take one big breath in and go under. As he is explaining all of this he’s kind of talking loud and people in the pool starting looking at him. So he went under the water to show them how it’s done and not even kidding all 30 people in the pool were staring at him. No one was saying a word. I couldn’t stop laughing cause everyone was just staring at this random gringo under the water. After being under for a minute and a half people starting getting nervous. They were all whispering “that’s enough”. They were scared for him.

Our hotel room was really nice AND had air conditioning. We arrived to Acapulco in the afternoon so that day we just hung out at the pool, ate great Mexican food, and walked around the city. The next day we woke up and had breakfast looking out over the ocean. It was beautiful. And the food was so good! Fresh squeezed orange juice was Calvin’s favorite. As we were eating a Mariachi band came up and starting serenating us (I’m gonna post a video of it later) it was pretty funny though. We then went to the beach after that. The beach we went to was called “papagayo”. It was pretty close to our hotel. I couldn’t believe how much hotter it was in Acapulco than in Mexico City. Calvin and I spent about $18 on sunscreen (that’s how much 1 bottle is here!!! Probably cause they don’t use it, I don’t know). We used it all weekend and still got so burnt. The beach in Mexico is so fun because you sit there and different vendors come up to you about every minute and try selling things to you. Lots of random stuff like: swimsuits, dresses, jewelry, food, drinks, water toys, hats, massages, braids in your hair, and lots of other random things. The water felt great and we had so much fun playing in the waves. We took a break from swimming and ate some great fish tacos and ceviche right on the beach. We stayed there most of the day and then we decided to go back to the hotel. Later that night we ate some more good food and walked around are hotel and watched the divers. It was kinda crazy. I don’t know how far the dive is but it’s a big cliff! There were hundreds of people and clowns. Mexicans love clowns. Any public event I go to there are clowns.

The next day (Monday) we went to the beach again. There was a lot less people there because it wasn’t the weekend so that was kind of nice. I got tackled by a couple of waves so that was fun. I forgot how much I love the ocean. I love playing in the waves. I love it. We didn’t stay at the beach as long on Monday because we didn’t want to get more sunburnt. The area that are hotel was in was the oldest part of Acapulco. We were right by the “Zocolo” or center of the city. It was only about 4 blocks from our hotel. We walked down there later that night and there were lots of street vendors and things going on. We saw more clowns (see picture below). We ate some amazing sopes and got some drinks all for about $5.00. The food was very cheap all weekend which was so nice! I think our biggest expense on the trip was water! We were always so thirsty cause it was so hot and you can’t drink tap water. The water was well worth it though. In order to get down to the “Zocolo” or to the beach we had to walk down this steep hill. So walking back to our hotel in the sun was torture.

As far as safety goes we always felt really safe. I was talking to one of our taxi drivers and he was saying that the normal people there or I guess the civilians even feel safe and the tourists should feel even safer. For the most part the crime is done between the drug cartels. The drug stuff has been really hard on the people that live in Acapulco because a lot of their income is based off of tourism and now that it has almost died it’s been really hard for the people.

It was a wonderful vacation, it was just fun being able to hang out with each other. Acapulco was beautiful. It was fun walking around and looking at the city and just seeing a completely different way of life. I will probably say this a lot but being here in Mexico has made me so grateful for America and the opportunities that I have had in my life. The people here have taught me to make the most out of what you are given. It’s been a great experience for the both of us. I love my husband. I couldn’t have found a better match for me. I will write another post this week that talks more about how things are going here on campus!!