We got up this morning in no rush for anything. Our only quest for the day was to find some good cigars. Our first attempt would be an unlikely source: Walmart.
After doing the blog and hanging out in the hotel for a while, we were kicked out by the maid. It was time to go. Walmart is about 2 kilometres down main “Av Costera Miguel Aleman”; the main tourist road along the bay. The boulevard is lined with pretty palm trees and is very tourist friendly. It is also teaming with police, marines, and tourist information 'officers' (also carrying weapons).
The walk was nice as we felt we were being a bit cooped up in our little hotel area. We passed many interesting things, such as a culture centre, many restaurants, shops, and a water park. There were also neat sculptures alone the way. It was early so much of the places were not fully open, or they just were not busy.
We arrived to Walmart; same same...but I've never seen one that sells Moto's. Although we had no luck on the cigars, I bought a new bikini and sun dress and we bought some lunch for the beach. This Walmart had a significant amount of prepared food; a lot of which looked amazing.
The trip back was uneventful but enjoyable. I love being emerged in a foreign place simply seeing people going about their daily lives. One thing is for sure about Acapulco; we stood out as being among the few gringos (white people) in the whole city.
We were on the beach by noon and it was definitely getting hot. Tim may have gotten sun burnt the day before and was trying to hide from the sun under a blanket.....silly gringo it's 35 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Tim enjoyed his sushi, which has said was surprisingly good. He topped it with fresh and spicy guacamole. I had a simple but yummy sandwich and was sun bathing before you knew it.
We didn't stay on the beach long, no more than 2 hours. We still were thinking about cigars. We had a tip from a lady, along the road, of a place that sold some. Our ultimate problem came down to pronunciation which when we googled came up with nothing. Tim heard “Sambos” when the store was actually “Sandborns”, a store we even been to in Mexico City. After discussing it with “our guy, Richard” we set out the opposite way as Walmart on the same street. Richard said if we don't find what we want at Sandborns that there was a market not much further.
The walk was not that far and we scored some excellent cigars from Mexico. Although the Cuban cigars were pretty cheap, we opted for more 'local' authentic Mexican varieties. Tim did get a nice looking cigar from Honduras, how could you not for about a dollar when it looked so nice.
We made our way back to our hotel but noticed a sign for daily specials at a local restaurant. Sales of the day included 2 for 1, wings, pizza of beef fajitas (although they still call them tacos). Today's special was pizza and although we were still a bit full from lunch, we decided to have some Coronas and nachos. I didn't get the name but it is at the corner of Costera and Anador Palmas, close to our hotel, Copacabana.
After a quick nap, we enjoyed a romantic evening listening to music on our balcony. The view of the bay and sound of the surf is amazing. We enjoyed a nice bottle of champagne and the amazing cigars.
At around 9:00 pm we were thinking about that 2 for 1 pizza and decided to adventure out. Because Acapulco is pretty dangerous, we have pretty much stayed in our hotel at night. What was interesting was the security presence seemed to have doubled or tripled from the already heavy day presence. From our restaurant table we saw continuous patrols on foot and vehicle upon vehicle filled with combat troops. It was very impressive (although I didn't get a good picture because it was dark, they moved too fast and I didn’t want to get shot for scoping out the troops.)
The pizza and beer was amazing and we were surprised we knocked a whole pizza back; whole meal with 4 beers cost $18 Cdn including a $4 tip (even 300 pesos).
The other and final adventure for the night were these horse drawn carriages that resembled Cinderella's pumpkin. They were all lit up with Christmas lights and decorations. I wanted one.
Tim reluctantly agreed and we hailed one like cab, 300 pesos. The ride was amazing to me but Tim found it annoying as it was bumpy and those carriages feel like they would fall apart any moment. The ride took us back to Walmart turned around and back to our hotel. The avenue is all lit up and it was a cool experience, even if it was a bumpy one. I also tried to make friends with the horse...I don't think he really likes tourists.
