Acapulco, Mexico’s Hall of Fame

The idea to visit a storied resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, one struggling with negative press, was pretty simple.  For as long as I can remember Acapulco had been on my bucket list if only due to its sexy name and glamorous past. “Aka-poole-ko” … it sounds sensual, right? And by all accounts it was.

Guess what? It still is.

 

Forget what you’re hearing about the destination’s safety, Acapulco is safer than Rio de Janiero and it’s hosting the 2016 summer Olympic Games. Go figure.  And it’s as beautiful and alluring as ever, even more so.  There’s a simple explanation; the centuries-old port which flows around a long graceful bay is having a renaissance. And that boils down to thousands of sensitive Mexicans servicing the tourism industry here working round the clock to please the crowd of international visitors. Where else can you laze on a beach and have anything brought to you in record time?  Service is second nature in Mexican culture and as one of the country’s tourism hubs (primarily for well to do residents of Mexico City, a 4 hour drive south), its citizens are on the alert to make sure you’re happy. A locus of affluence and style for as long as it’s been on the map, Acapulco is a town with big money everywhere you turn, and that in itself is revealing.  You can have the time of your life here and experience the best of Mexican culture, cuisine and adventure. With exactly that in mind, we set out to connect the dots of the Acapulco of yesterday with the Acapulco of today, hoping to find that the two were close enough to be one and the same.

We started at Los Flamingos, a legendary hot pink hotel and restaurant hugging the cliffs of Acapulco Bay, which was a hangout for the so-called “Hollywood Gang”, a group of macho leading men led by John Wayne and Johnny Weismuller (who owned the place in the 50’s). Why is it that when Hollywood discovers a place, it’s got to be good? By the 1960’s almost everyone in Hollywood was vacationing in Acapulco’s tropical playground and this was the best place to begin channeling the resort city’s incredible past. There was a reason why these guys made a beeline for the St. Tropez of Mexico on weekends … mucho sun and mucho fun. Sometimes called “La Casa de Tarzan”, the Olympic medalist loved it so much that he lived out his life here after fame and fortune as MGM’s famous jungle man.

If you visit on a Thursday at lunchtime you’ll witness the staff preparing for the special Thursday night pozole dinner which draws quite a crowd. Sit on the terrace of the splendid bar overlooking Acapulco Bay and order a tamal de pollo, some guacamole and a Coco Loco, the hotel’s signature cocktail, a blend of tequilas and rums blended with coconut water and fresh lime juice. The killer drink arrives in a giant coconut festooned with a palm frond, reminiscent of a winning hat in the Easter Parade. Take a sip, in fact take several, and ponder that incredible view while savoring the special old world feeling the hotel epitomizes. There’s no better way to appreciate Acapulco’s energy but don’t expect to be parading on the street when you finally get up. Instead, take a walk down memory lane in the reception where a gallery of vintage photographs of Hollywood royalty, some from as far back as 1951, connect then and now.  And don’t dare forget to pay a nod to Señor Adolfo Santiago before splitting. He’s the very noticeable owner who started it all, working at the property in his teens as a bus boy, then rising through the ranks until purchasing Los Flamingos from Johnny W. Wow, he’s still going strong! There must be a secret ingredient in that drink he serves.

From there drive up the winding streets hugging the sea to Cerro de la Pinzona and you’ll get a sense of a more private Acapulco, where cloying lovers huddle in eternal embrace watching a sunset. By now you have a feeling for the city’s DNA and how much influence it wielded on visitors. With one of Mexico’s top entertainers chosen as its new campaign face, the handsome singer Luis Miguel, it’s reinventing itself for a new group of international jet setters.

The taxi stops in front of a set of gates inlaid with mosaic and signed with the initials DR. Behind them is a magical place, La Casa de los Vientos, the home of Dolores Olmedo, the Grand Dame of Acapulco who collected the largest amount of works by Diego Rivera, Mexico’s equivalent to Picasso. Dolores must have wanted Diego close to her because she built a studio for him adjoining her home and with her house and grounds these are a major contribution to the art world. Just opened to the public, it’s a giant cultural step for Acapulco. Sure, Mexico City has hundreds of museums but only here can you unlock the secrets of a passionate love affair completely told in mosaic by Diego. Dolores was his eternal muse whom he met when she was just a teenager. Frida Kahlo, his jealous wife, must have kept a close watch. Dolores called him her beloved “frog” and he lived here with her for the last four years of his life after Frida died.

 

The studio’s open balcony looks out to the horizon and there he tiled the entire ceiling in mosaic depicting a frog, a dove and a hammer and sickle signifying  his Communist leanings. Definitely shades of Michelangelo, when you see it up close. Up a flight of stairs and towards the back of a rolling garden is her home, hugging the cliffs of La Quebrada like a devoted paramour.  It’s the quintessential conglomeration of all things artistically Mexican. It’s also where Diego painted 25 sunsets in the living room, a fact attesting to Acapulco’s synergy with nature.

 

With the sun hot on our backs, we closed the chapter on eternal love, wiping sweat from our head and neck as we left.  For much of the year Acapulco’s days are sunny and hot and cooling off was not only on our minds but on the stars of Acapulco’s most famous tourist attraction. From Dolores’ house we snaked our way up to La Quebrada for the 1 pm show of the clavadistas. These are the cliff divers who are the main attraction in this beach town and in the blazing heat they needed cooling off, too. We descended a steep set of steps to a viewing platform 100 feet above the sea, not knowing what to expect. The angry surf crashed in and out of a narrow gorge barely wide enough for a flock of birds to enter. I watched five brave young men climb up the side of a cliff with their bare feet and dive head-first from a precipice some 150 feet above the sea.  It was like something performed by Superman, absolutely death defying, and fantastic. What made them do it?  It went way beyond athletic showmanship. It was pure bravado but more importantly I believe they felt that Acapulco had a reputation to uphold. And to that end, they succeeded.  As they stood together in their Speedos afterward posing for photos, selling t-shirts and waiting for tips, they embodied that little piece of Acapulco that should never change, even though a beach city is forever changing.

 

Afterward, we sped down to Old Acapulco for a look around the Zocalo, a densely shaded square that’s graced with an old fashioned gazebo at the bay’s edge. A hub of activity from dawn till dusk, here is where couples walk arm in arm, teenage boys practice their soccer and children are constantly getting away from their minders every which way you turn. On the fringes are countless stalls with tables inviting the curious shopaholic. Only in Mexico can you find something you have no desire for and decide to buy it. At the opposite side of the square is Acapulco’s feather in its cap, the modern yet antique looking church, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. With a stark white façade and bulb shaped blue and yellow spires, it’s a vision of beauty. Inside the action is intense, after all this is Mexico, still an important cornerstone of the Christian faith but here never an intrusion on business. We strolled the Malecon afterward, the seaside strand and marina across the busy street where cherubic boys practiced diving into the bay, no doubt getting ready for their close-ups one day high above the city. By now the pulse and energy of this beach town had gotten into our veins thanks to the real life here; it wasn’t just for holidays.

 

Happy Hour approached and we were thirsty … and hungry too. We’d heard that the cool 50’s vibe nearby at Hotel Boca Chica was a confluence of the old with the new Acapulco, a place where a Japanese chef was shaking up things in the hotel’s kitchen. Unlike Los Flamingos, Boca Chica is indeed a reincarnation, a striking mid-century mod monument on the bay with a retro chic atmosphere so cool it was featured in the wacky 50’s Elvis film, “Fun in Acapulco.” An A-list design team has transformed the property with vintage furniture, lacquered walls, black concrete floors and a palette of tropical greens reminiscent of Miami or Palm Beach.

 

A shaded entrance reception with a subterranean feel led us through a romantic overgrown garden to an amoeba shaped pool perched on the edge of the bay and then to an open air bar and restaurant housed under a thatched roof palapa.  Here the serenity of the prime location was matched only by Master Chef Keisuke Harada’s ingenious take on Mexican specialties. First we said sí to the signature Boca Chica Tamarind Margarita which arrived frozen, the glass rimmed with spicy salt, then said más por favor, feasting on the chef’s ceviche and sushi. I wondered what possibly could have lured a Japanese chef to Acapulco. Was it the swaying palms along its endless beaches or the sultry nightlife that beckoned as a burning sun began dipping behind the hills?

Minutes later we were chugging along the Costera, Acapulco’s grand boulevard that leads south from the old town, playing cat and mouse with an army of royal blue and white VW Beetle taxis whisking people to the endless bars and clubs for the night. Tonight at the Palladium disco the theme was Arabian Nights and we had yet to figure out where we were getting the turbans. Speeding up around the hill past the massive Miguel Aleman rock towards elegant Diamante, the city’s newest neighborhood, we looked back at the thousands of twinkling lights lining the bay. We’d made a connection between past and present and were ready for Acapulco to bring on the night. Another tamarind margarita? You bet!

www.visitmexico.com

www.acapulco.com

*For help with planning a trip to Mexico, there’s no better tool than a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide.