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A Bus Ride in Acapulco

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

When we checked into the hotel the only parking was valet parking.  So there on the front step of the hotel we had to put all our clothes, toothbrushes, and the few valuables we have into plastic bags so we can carry them up to the our room.  The humidity is terrible and sweat is rolling down my face in buckets.  Needless to say, we forgot a few things, so the next day we had to cross 8 lanes of traffic, which resembled a game of Frogger, in order to get to the parking garage where our car was parked.  There are crosswalks, but no one pays any attention to them here.  You cross the street at your own risk, and if you get hurt or killed it is looked at as a form of natural selection.  The parking garage is dingy and has no escape hatches for exhaust fumes.  At first they didn’t want to let us in and we had to fumble our way through Spanish to tell them we only wanted to get a few things out of the car.  We showed them our valet ticket and they called over to the hotel to verify and then let us up.  Boy am I glad that we went to the car because a bag of garbage and ripe avocados don’t do well in 90 degree weather and this humidity in a car with all the doors and windows closed.
We dodged our way across the street back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and then set off on our way to the zocalo (town square) to see a bit of the Independence Day celebration.  I should also mention that we have been constantly bombarded by people trying to sell us stuff.  It started with Oscar who tried to sell us a hotel room the second we stepped out of the car in Acapulco.  On the beaches there is a steady stream of people trying to sell you clothes, jewelry, food, drinks, beach toys, massages and lots of other souveniers.  (I was a sucker today and had my hair braided on the beach.)  Even the cab driver didn’t want to take us to where we want to go, but take us to some flea-market.  When we resisted he asked us “Well, then.  What time should I pick you up tomorrow.  We’ll go tomorrow.”  Matthias is starting to get very snippy with the vendors and they are driving him crazy.  The zocalo in Acapulco was no exception.  It was really getting old with both of us, Julian and I were cranky, we were all hungry, I was not feeling well and it was about 2 miles back to our hotel room.  After a couple more games of Frogger we checked out a restaurant, decided against it, hailed a cab, then waved him away and didn’t know what to do.  We stopped on the side of the street for just a split second and a big blue Mexican bus stopped to pick us up. Without hesitation we all got in.  This was the coolest bus ride I’ve ever been on.  The bus driver had decorated the entire front of the bus with colorful trinkets, stuffed animals, a pair of ladies underwear and Mexican carpets.  He also had Cyndi Lauper and other 80’s music blaring so loud we could barely hear each other.  The interior was bright blue and turquoise.  I’m not sure if they have scheduled stops on these buses, but it appears they don’t.  It looked like the way to get off was to stand at the back door and rap on the side of the bus.  It costs 8 pesos for the entire family (80 cents) and this was the best 8 pesos we’ve spent in the last 2 weeks.  It was so much fun to ride in this bus that we all left in great moods.  Trying to figure the rhyme or reason to why the bus stopped for us in the first place (there was no bus stop sign), how to pay, how to get off the bus and just sitting and enjoying the ride are the fun things about being here.  Strangely enough, the bus let us off on the corner where our good buddy Oscar was standing, and he came through with a great restaurant for us where we all enjoyed a nice dinner and only had to fight off one person trying to sell us stuff at the dinner table other than the food on the menu..
The torrential rains have passed for now. Today we had so much sun and we had a great day spent under a palapa on the beach and in the pool.  We’re still getting lots of stares, although only half of them now are staring at Julian.  The other half of them are staring at me because I look absolutely ridiculous with my hair braided.  With my sunglasses on I look like a stupid white version of Stevie Wonder.  Oh well.  William and Julian really like my hair and to be honest, I don’t really care.  I have a lot to be thankful for right now – I’m in such a beautiful spot of the world with my family, and there is only more to come.