After our first walk-about, we went to the museum, which is in an old fort right next to the cruise ship pier. It had a really good display of the local history (and there is a lot, since Acapulco was basically the gateway to the Pacific, so all Spanish ships trading with Asia went through there. The fort itself is fascinating, built as a pentagon, with sentry posts and cannon on the roof (accessible by a ramp), and a moat (with drawbridge and portcullis). The indoor displays were in Spanish, with most having an understandable (although sometimes humorouusly poor) English translation. It was interesting to see an entire section on “English Pirates”, and Francis Drake as the worst of the bunch. I guess it all depends on your perspective.
While wandering, we found an “expensive things” store. There were shiny motorcycles, dishwashers, and really big televisions. My first thought was that's a strange mix of things to sell in the same store, but there is a strong theme: stuff that almost nobody in Mexico can afford.
We have amassed a collection of postcards by now, so we need stamps. We asked a bunch of people where we could buy some “estampa”. They did understand what Robyn wanted (good for her), but mostly didn't know where to buy them, or in some cases gave us confusing directions. Finally we were intercepted by a nice man who we are sure works for Acapulco's tourism office (he had some sort of ID around his neck), and he took us to the post office. It was inside a government building with no useful signs in front, so we would never have found it ourselves. He chatted nicely (in excellent English) with us, and helped Robyn on her pronunciation of Spanish as we walked there. Once there, he translated our request for stamps to the teller, and made sure we got the right kind at the correct price. He didn't want any kind of tip. Clearly the city is worried about their reputation, and wants to make sure that tourists have a good time and don't get ripped off.
I twisted my ankle today. I do this on most of my vacations, it is sort of a tradition. Oddly enough, it was my right ankle, where it is usually the left ankle that twists. It was better after a bit of ice, so I'm not too worried. All of my ankle physiotherapy seems to have helped: even if it didn't prevent the twist, it made is heal much quicker.
Some comments from Robyn:
- traffic was not as bad as Paris
- no snow on the sidewalks
- we saw a pothole about the size of a Volkswagen bug.
After we were back on board, the captain came on the PA to talk about the medical problem. He says that “a small number” of guests are sick, and that we should wash our hands and use the hand sanitizers offered. He mentions 200 passengers are affected. He mentions special processes to stop the spread of germs, one of which is that we cannot touch anything around the food area. This means there is a plastic-gloved worker stationed at each drink area, and if you want a cup of coffee, he will pour it for you. Basically, nothing is self-serve anymore. Not too bad, since there are enough people for them to pull it off. On our way back from dinner, we see a cabin door on our deck with a seal across it, indicating (we assume) that cabin is quarantined. The rumour is that there are a lot on decks 2,3,4 and a few on 8 (our deck).
We're still fine, so we went to the “sock hop” party. It was loud, lame, and didn't seem to have any 50s music (did the 50's do conga lines?). We left after a few minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment