Huatulco to Acapulco

We were sorry to leave Huatulco. But we have miles to go, and beaches to swim in.

Stopped on the highway and saw a tourist booth. He pointed the way we were going and said Acapulco. Pointed the way back and said Huatulco. That was it. It was so good he repeated it. He really knew that highway.

Drove to Puerto Escondido to spend the night and see the place. Ardell took an exit and magically found the center of town. Hotels were plentiful so we looked around a bit. Found one we liked that had only a few rooms with a balcony over the bay. It was also a hostel with dorms, a community kitchen, a rooftop party place, and a bunch of very friendly 20-somethings from all over the world. We didn´t know it but this place is "The Mexican Pipeline". The rooftop had a nice recognizable smell, where the kids were smoking and drinking those liter bottles of beer to get a buzz on before going to the night clubs at 11 pm. What a great way for young people to make new friends. A tip for young boys, no matter where I go in Mexico, I always find Swedish girls travelling in pairs. Maybe not tire models, but blonde and tanned and wearing bikinis. Not that I noticed. This place is also a great surfing destination. Ardell went to a coffee shop and the manager asked, are you from western Canada? It was the accent and the smile. People from Ontario sound the same, but don´t smile. People from Quebec have a funny french spanish, and maritimers sound Irish. Says another girl on staff can pick out the accents from 35 states.

Next day we went to Acapulco. Everyone said, avoid the place, it has high crime, poluted water and is overpriced. We stayed there anyways and really enjoyed it. I has magnificent scenery, rugged rocks, and numerous bays. The next morning, we went across the street from our hotel to the beach for a swim. While we were in the water, we noticed a rope in the water, almost over our heads, being pulled by about 8 guys.on the beach. There were another 8 guys pulling another rope about 200 yards down the beach. There was a guy organizing the rope because this turned out to be part of a huge net that they dropped out earlier. after about 30 minutes, as the 2 teams of fishermen got closer together, they pulled the net ashore. It was chaos for a few minutes as some fish escaped from the nets into the beaks of pelicans and into the plastic bags of some guys, all looking for a free meal. In the net was a jumble of fish, a few jellyfish, rays, puffer fish, and porcupine fish were thrown back into the sea. They kept about 8 tuna, and lots of other fish I didn´t recognise. I asked a fisherman what kind of fish one was and he told me the price. Wasn´t interested in illuminating some touristo, he just wanted to sell them. And sell them they did. People arrived with plastic pails and bought them on the spot.

We stayed downtown, but if I was to go there again, I would stay at Pie de la questa, a beautiful beach away from the hubub of downtown Acapulco.

Still enjoying the trip. Still in love.

peter and ardell