Day 4 - January 2nd, 2009 - Acapulco, Mexico

So this post is showing up a few days late because we finally reached land!! And we have been very busy. Hence the delay!! Now by this time (Sunday January 4th) many people have received our cards we sent out on Tuesday. . . If you have, you already know what is going to happen on tomorrow’s post, so stay tuned to see pictures and hear all about it. . . . Meanwhile, here is what happened today

Today Started out with a spectacular view of the Acapulcan coast. We were amazed to see what a giant city it is. Dozens and dozens of skyscrapers and miles of crowded shoreline.

This picture is of some of the islands that surround the bay

Here is the opening of the bay & the City that lines the shore

These are the islands as you enter the bay

As we entered the bay, we noticed we were being escorted by a small gun ship. This boat followed us for about 15 minutes then went on it’s way.

A new hotel being built on the peninsula next to some really big houses

Just after we docked we went to the top deck to get a look at the city. The next picture is of the old fort that use to protect the bay.

Notice its unique 5 point star design.

We were some of the first people off of the ship because we had planned an excursion to go White Water Rafting about 60 miles outside of the City. The drive was suppose to take about an hour but it's still Holiday season here and it took an hour to just get out of the downtown area. So we took some pics through the window of the van were driving in.

Now if you have never been to Acapulco, you should understand that it is not a place for the faint of heart. While driving, the use of blinkers is not realistic (there is not time to signal), use of the horn seemed to be a requirement (it seemed to replace the blinker) Lines on the road are much like lines in a coloring book for 2 year olds. There seemed to be 2 taxi's for every commuter vehicle and 1 bus for every two commuter vehicle.

The laws here in regards to traffic safety are almost non-existent. Not only for driving but for traveling as a passenger. Hundreds of open-air vehicles transport people around (as seen above) Yes there are seats (no lap belts) but people just seems to jump on and off (often times hanging off the sides) as these vehicles dodge and weave through traffic.

The vehicle safety laws are so far behind us that they still use Volkswagen beetles (60's-70's model) as taxi's. You can see them in the background if front of the dispatch terminal. (something to note here is that this vehicle is still mass produced in Mexico automobile factories (the USA does not allow them to enter the US due to the safety standards)

It took us nearly 2 hours to get to the main base “resort” where the trip would begin and end.

picture taken by Ana

After a quick fitting for life vest and helmets, we climbed into the back of a large open air transport truck.

Lisa is sitting out of the pic here.

Not sure if these are feril goats or someone’s pets. But you get an idea of what the terrain looks like.

It was a short 10 minute drive to the drop-off point where we would hike another 10 minutes down a Donkey trail. Here the guide has us pose for a group picture. Are you wondering what the hardest part of hiking down a trail made primarily for donkey’s to travel is? Well, it’s not the rocky and uneven terrain, it’s not even fear of what our guide called “New Friends” (ie-snakes, etc) It’s actually avoiding the donkey dung that litters the path!!!

Once reaching the shore of the river, our guide gave us the basics on being a passenger and paddler in our rafts. We were divided up into three groups and given our own navigator. . . Off we went!!

(our navigator in the front) :)

After every set of rapids we raised our paddles and yelled our boat name. Thanks to our new friend Anastasia (Ana) we were called “Clueless!” Which was very fitting. . . Our first set down. . . On to the next. . .

The scenery was so amazing. Much like here in Salt Lake City, Utah the canyon was filled with giant granite rocks. . .

One of the things to note here is how low the river was. This was actually the last trip of the season for these guides. The rocks behind us will be completely submerged during the high season (They do not run the river for almost 6 months out of the year because of this).

Here is our little group (we loved our guide, he was a lot of fun) From Back left to Front right: Morten, Ana, Lisa, Daniel.

At one point we were given the chance to go swimming. Here are Morten (from Denmark) and Anastasia (from Russia via Canada where she now lives and works)

Just before we jumped out to take a swim. . . We were captains of the boat for a moment!!

Aren’t we so cute ?!?

And you thought we couldn’t get cuter!!!

BUY THE BEERS!!! a little game the guides play with their crew. As you can see, someone stands on the back of the raft grasping the attached line. Then everyone paddles the boat (the people on the left paddle forward while the people on the right paddle back, causing the boat to spin around and around) The first person to fall either in or out of the boat, buys the beers.

Still going!!!!

still going!!

What you don’t see here is the guide trying to pull Daniel off and push him in. . Daniel was the only one to not fall off. He even went twice!!

Well, all in all it was a great trip. We met some new friends and got to see a part of Mexico few others get to. . . One of the coolest things about the trip happened near the end. We came around a corner to find hundreds if not thousands of people (families) camped out along the shoreline. We were told that these people were on Holiday for Christmas/New Years. Dozens of children were playing in the river and some were even fishing for crawdads, which the children showed us.

Once we got back to base camp, we got changed and had an authentic Mexican meal of Ham and cheese sandwiches along with some watermelon. . . Yum Yum. . . (that is what we call a little sarcasim)

Thanks to Pueblo Bravo Acapulco Rafting (www.shotoverjet.com.mx)

So the drive back from the river was much quicker. . We arrived back at the boat with enough time to spare that we could shower and get ready for our next adventure.

DINNER OVERLOOKING ACAPULCO

WOW, what an incredible view. It's sad that we didn't bring a better camera with us, but we think you get the idea. :)

After dinner we headed back down the mountain and over to the 230 foot cliff to watch teenagers jump off into the raging ocean below.

The light here was so poor that we used a really slow shutter speed and pinned the camera down to a rock wall (hence the strange angel)

It may not look like much, but the people at the bottom of the pic are about 50-60 feet above the water. . .

This diver is about half way up the cliff face.

Well we arrived back at the ship pretty late to find another little guy sitting on our bed. Apparently he knew about our little secret and he wasn't talking!!!

Time to get to bed, we have a really big day ahead of us.