Acapulco 12-13/15
We headed out of Ixtapa by 9am and are hoping to find our campsite in Acapulco early. The driving directions say it’s about a 4 hour drive. I figure with a few stops, we can be there by 4pm. We mainly drove the coast down highway 200. There weren’t many places to stop and see the ocean. The conditions were good but we traveled through a bunch of small towns. Small towns mean a lot of “topes”(Mexican speed bumps). The topes slow you way down.
The campground we found on Ioverlander was called Diamante Acapulco Trailer park. It was located 2 blocks from the beach. The directions got us to this super busy street, almost a highway and we couldn’t find the park. We went up and down the street twice before Larry pulled over in front of a big hotel driveway close to where our campground should be. We went out on foot to see if he could find it. Funny thing…..it was one driveway over down a narrow dirt road. Sometimes it is near impossible to find these parks. Yeah!! He found it.
We found a spot to park between two permanent trailer/housing structures. This park was different from any others that we have been to yet. It was fairly large but the majority of the spaces had large aluminum shelters over the trailers. Some were screened in too. Most of these homes had outdoor kitchens and living rooms with TV”s and decor. I was simply amazed. After our set up, we walked around the park to see where the pools were and about laundry facilities. No washer on site. That was bad because it was time. We also had time to take our bikes for a mini adventure to find the beach. That proved to be harder than we thought. First we had to find the right road to the beach. After two failed attempts we found the right road. The main road was lined with high rise hotels for as far as the eye could see. This is Larry’s least favorite type of beach. We found a narrow ally that took us to the water between 2 fancy resorts.
The beach was long and wide. We walked around and saw a spectacular sunset. We put our feet in the water and looked for sea treasures until we needed food. We saw a cute restaurant right outside our trailer park we thought we would try. La Palapa Diamante Restaurant and Bar. We parked our bikes right by the owner’s Harley! Lol We didn’t even lock them up….we were fairly confident they would stick around. Inside the restaurant, the atmosphere was like a party. They had a D.J. that liked to dance to his music. He would pick ladies at tables by the dance floor to dance with him. I enjoyed watching and realized many of these folks were from the RV park. It was Friday night and they were there to party! They played American Old School Rock and it was festive. Larry even sang along to YMCA!!! Ha ha ha
After dinner, we walked around the park and looked at some Christmas decorations on some of the permanent homes. We were really checking one out when the owner Alan came out and invited us in to see it. Him and his wife Diane showed us the whole place. It is an interesting setup. They are french Canadians and spend 5-6 months in Acapulco each winter. They started pulling their trailer down but then bought the spot and built the overhang and screened it in. Most of the winter residents were french Canadians we found out and they were talking about us when we drove in…..we have plates from Saskatchewan on the truck and California for the trailer. I guess Alan and Diane were the first brave people to talk to us….the rest of them just looked and talked about us. The an interesting vibe here.
Saturday morning I got some exercise by walking up and down the 6 streets in the RV park. I took lots of pictures of the flowers and some of the trailer/homes. My main goal for the day was to get laundry done and find a big jug of water (15 gallons). The neighbor to our right, came up to Larry and introduced himself. They were chatting it up when I asked if he knew where to find a laundromat. Guy, from Toronto, said he thought in the shopping center across the street. Nice! He invited us into his home to see what he had done with his trailer/home. His wife Evette was super nice but more on the quiet side. Guy on the other hand loved to talk. We realized that we were his activity for the day. Fresh new folks to tell his favorite stories to. He told us how he met his wife and the plethora of jobs he’s done. He was interesting. His wife showed me around and I spied the washing machine. I told her that I needed to wash clothes and was heading across the street when she offered to let me wash there. Yeah!!! While our laundry was in the washer, Evette whipped us all up a nice breakfast of eggs, toast, cheese and fruit!! Such kindness and hospitality. I was touched! We spent a few hours getting to know this couple. She helped me clothespin all of our wet clothes up in their garage (it’s hot in there) to dry. That was one of the best mornings ever!
Acapulco was such a short stop, I can’t give you a good impression of it. If we come back this way, we may stay at another campground and plan some activities other than chores. LOL It was a nice, safe and comfortable place to land for a short time….that’s all I know!