Mexico: Ixtapa & Acapulco
The original plan was to go to Cancun, Mexico. Unfortunately, due to the hurricane devastation, Cancun will not be back to normal until possibly Spring 2006. So instead I will be traveling to Ixtapa, Mexico and attempting to do an adventurous excursion to Acapulco, Mexico then back to Ixtapa. Currently, I have hotel reservations for Jan. 12 & 13 in Ixtapa, 14 & 15 in Acapulco, and on the 16th in Ixtapa!
Stay tuned for the details and see an Event Coordinator at work ;)
Here are the exciting details of my adventure...
Day 1 (Thursday, 1/12/06)
Richard and I boarded our flight on Alaska Airlines at 10:53am in LAX, landed in Ixtapa, Mexico at 4:25pm (~4 hour flight, 2 hour time difference). After customs, we went to get a taxi and totally got taken. The lady offered a $29 cab fare which we had no idea how far our hotel was and how much it would cost. We later found out that it should have only cost about $12! The first day we decided to just relax a little and get to know the city. Once we were done checking in to our hotel at Dorado Pacifico, we ventured off to find a restaurant. We decided on searching for a place that had lobster and steak - little did we realize this would soon be the theme of our meals - along with daily Coronas for me and Bloody Mary for Richard!! For the rest of the night, we just relaxed and hung out. Here are a few pictures of Ixtapa and the view from our hotel room on the 15th floor...
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Day 2 (Friday, 1/13/06)
Somehow we didn't wake up until almost noon, thinking that we missed out on all possible excursions. Luckily the one excursion I wanted to do was still available. We ended up going on a zip lining excursion called Azul Intenso. It was quite exciting and we had lots of fun. The area was about 10minutes away from our hotel, near Melia Azul Hotel. We ended up going on 13 zip lines, although the advertisement said 17 which of course I mentioned to our instructor was false advertising ;) Take a look at the wonderful views there were - the highest zip line we did was about 75 feet high...
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After we were done zip lining, we decided to take a walk around the area and came across a little crocodile dock. Then we did some shopping and headed back to the hotel. Off to dinner and going with the suggestion of our newly acquainted tour guide, Francisco, we went to Cafe Salsa to try out their steak and lobster. This time it was a little bit better, but not quite satisfying. Once dinner was done, we went shopping for a little bit and then checked out Seņor Frogs. Considering that it was a Friday night, I would've expected a little bit more of a night life, but it was basically a bar with a bunch of tourists hanging out. We had our one drink and ended up going back to the hotel.
Day 3 (Saturday, 1/14/06)
Now it's time to put my plan to the test... We woke up about 6:30am, got our luggage together and walked about 1/2 mile to the bus station where we caught our autobus at 7:50am to Acapulco. It took a little over 4 hours to get there with about 3 stops to pick up other passengers along the way. We finally got to Acapulco around 1:00pm and checked in at the Hyatt. I had asked for the highest floor possible and we got 22nd out of 23 (I think 23rd floor was some sort of VIP suite though). Our room was very nice, spacious, and had a wonderful view.
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We settled in real quick and went downstairs to look for a travel agency to start some more excursions. Francisco from Ixtapa, who is from Acapulco, gave us all kinds of tips of what to do and where to go while in Acapulco. He had suggested doing the shot over jet cruise and so that was our first excursion. We boarded a small boat and took a tour of the Mongrol Jungle. These plants have black tips and they go into the water and root themselves. They had filmed Tarzan in this jungle. These trees are really strong and Richard even got to swing on one of the branches. While on the tour, the tour guide would do 360° degree turns and swerve in and out through the jungle.
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The taxi driver had suggested going to Tio Alex's for dinner to find good filet mignon and lobster. The atmosphere was beautiful. We sat at the top of the deck overlooking the ocean. The meals seemed to be getting better, but still not completely satisfying. Once we were done with dinner, we decided to walk back to our hotel which I believe was about 3 miles, but Richard claims it was only 2 miles. We got back to our hotel around 10:30pm and thought it was too late to go out, but being that it's a Saturday night and we're in Acapulco - there's no way we were going to miss the nightlife. Once again our trusty acquaintance had suggested that if we were going to only go to one club then it should be Palladium. Although he had also mentioned Baby O's and La Alquerque, but off to Palladium it was. There was a little bit of a line outside when our taxi pulled up, but I'm sure being the only Asians helped because the bouncer just called us right in ;). It was $35 for guys, and $25 for girls with open bar all night. The venue was incredible - it was set atop a hillside and overlooked the entire coastal Acapulco. The whole side of the club is made of glass and just gives an unbelievable view of the city. At first we weren't sure if it was a club or a bar because they didn't start playing music until after 12:30am!! Once the music started though, the dance floor was packed within 5 minutes. They played a variety of music. First it was Spanish music, then some hip hop, and of course as the night went on it switched to trance. The club stays open till about 4am and we left around 3am. I'm not exactly sure how we lasted so long considering it wasn't our type of music and just the two of us.
Day 4 (Sunday, 1/15/06)
Got to sleep in a little bit, knowing that our excursions were going to be later in the day. We went to have a nice casual lunch at the Hyatt restaurant again. Then we set off for our parasailing and jet skiing adventure. It was lots of fun and very exciting. I got to take a lot of pictures from way up high! =)
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Later on in the night, Richard and I decided to walk another 2-3 miles to where we were the night before to find a restaurant and go shopping. Of course, continuing on our surf 'n' turf journey, we went to eat at a pirate restaurant - sorry forgot the name but it starts with a B and you just can't miss it as the pirate restaurant. It's designed as if you're eating on a big pirate ship and the waiters are somewhat dressed in pirate outfits. This was by far the best filet mignon and lobster we've had and the service was wonderful.
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After dinner, we went shopping at the night markets and found some decent deals. We were going to walk back to our hotel, but since we had purchased quite a bit of things we ended up just taking a taxi back. The rest of the night was pretty chill.
Day 5 (Monday, 1/16/06)
Today was meant to be a pretty chill day. We knew we had to catch our bus at 2pm, so we just had breakfast at one of the restaurants in the hotel. Then just kind of killed time. We headed to the bus station, got on our bus, and arrived in Ixtapa at about 6:30pm. As soon as we were done checking in, we made sure to set up our horse back riding excursion for tomorrow morning. There were a few gifts I still needed to get, so I wanted to check out the night market in Zihuatenejo. This market had a way different feel. They weren't pushy or seemed to need our business which made it a lot harder to bargain, but luckily there wasn't much that we needed to purchase. By this time, I was starving so we were set to go try some sushi (our one attempt at not having surf 'n' turf), but to find out that the recommended restaurant isn't open on Mondays =/. So we started to walk back to our hotel and found another restaurant to continue our filet and lobster routine. We ate at Bogart's - a restaurant dedicated to Humphrey Bogart and Casablanca and they give every lady a flower. As it turns out, this restaurant also had excellent surf 'n' turf. Apparently, it does correlate that with higher prices comes better food and service.
Day 6 (Tuesday, 1/17/06)
Woke up early enough to do our final excursion - horseback riding along the beach. It was about an hour excursion. The horses totally knew the route and as soon as we were on them they just started taking off without the guide, haha. It was a very beautiful excursion, nice, and relaxing. Little did I know that I would get at least 20 bug bites on my legs because of this excursion =/. Never fails... if there are little critters around sucking blood - I'm sure to know!
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So we realized that after 5 days in Mexico, we haven't had any tacos or burritos. For lunch I had my typical taquitos (rolled tacos). It was pretty good, a little greasy but still tasty. Then I did a little bit more shopping but not for anything in particular. A little buzzed from my daily beer and we were off to the airport. Our flight was at 5pm and with the time difference, we landed back in LAX around 7pm. All in all, this trip was packed with lots of exciting excursions and activities and I had a great time - really needed that time away from LA. =)
