Everyone - even if they don't have any idea where
it is - has heard of
ACAPULCO , but few people
know what to expect. The truth is that, as long as you don't
yearn to get away from it all, you'll find almost
anything you want here, from magnificent beaches by day
to clubs and discos by night.
What Acapulco undoubtedly has going for it, however,
is its stunning bay : a sweeping scythe-stroke of
yellow sand backed by the white towers of the high-rise
hotels and, behind them, the jungled green foothills of
the Sierra. And, even though there are hundreds of
thousands of people here on vacation throughout the year - the town
itself has a population approaching one and a half
million, and even out of season (busiest months are
Dec-Feb) most of the big hotels remain nearly full - it
rarely seems oppressively crowded. Certainly there's
always space to lie somewhere along the beach, partly
because of its sheer size, partly because of the number
of rival attractions from hotel pools to parasailing and
"romantic" cruises. Hawkers , too, are everywhere
- there's no need to go shopping in Acapulco, simply lie
on the beach and a string of goods will be paraded in
front of you.
Though there's little to show for it now beyond the
star-shaped Fuerte de San Diego and a few rusty
freighters tied up along the quayside, Acapulco was from
the sixteenth century one of Mexico's most important
ports - the destination of the famous Nao de China
, which brought silks and spices from Manila and
returned laden with payment in Mexican silver. Most of
the goods were lugged overland to Veracruz and from
there shipped onwards to Spain. Mexican Independence,
Spain's decline and the direct route around southern
Africa combined to kill the trade off, but for nearly
three hundred years the shipping route between Acapulco
and the Far East was among the most prized and preyed
upon in the world, attracting at some time or other (if
you believe all the stories) every pirate worth the
name. In one such raid, in 1743, Lord Anson (the "Father
of the British Navy") picked up silver worth as much as
£400,000 sterling from a single galleon and altogether,
with the captured ship and the rest of its cargo and
crew, collected booty worth over a million even then.
The Town
No one comes to Acapulco for the sights. By day, if
people aren't at the beach or asleep, they're mostly
scouring the expensive shops. If you only do one thing
in Acapulco, though, make sure you see its most
celebrated spectacle, the leap of the daredevil...
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