As I said in my previous post, I'm in Acapulco, Mexico! I will be here for the next week and I am very very happy about it.
Acapulco is heaven on earth in itself. The most beautiful and amazing place I've been to in my life. No matter how old I get, and how busy my life is; I can't seem to free myself of the desire to take my yearly trip to this beautiful city. I've been to many other Mexican states and found that they all became very Americanized. Being "Americanized" is not necessarily a bad thing, I just prefer to go to a country and be completely immersed in their culture. I love learning about different cultures and it is one of the main reasons I travel in the first place. When I travel and it doesn't feel like I've left my homeland, I don't feel as though I've gotten the full travel experience. Luckily for me, Acapulco is both Americanized and 100% Mexican.
Acapulco has two parts. The "new part" being the Diamante area and "old Acapulco" which is the famous "Acapulco Bay." By choice, my favourite is "old Acapulco" where all the culture is. New Acapulco is much more Americanized and modern; beautiful, but not the Acapulco I grew to love. "Old Acapulco" is where most of the Mexicans stay. Also, majority of the local people live in "Old Acapulco" and the cultural experience is prime here. I've been coming to "old Acapulco" for the past 18 years now. My Dad and Mom have had the privilege be part of Acapulco's growth for the past 35 years. For all these years, we have noticed that less and less tourists have been coming to Acapulco due to fear of the unknown. What is the unknown you may ask? For the past 10 years Acapulco has unfortunately been apart of some very bad publicity that have caused less and less people to come here every year. I understand the fear, but as a tourist (I'm as "gringa" as it gets) I wanted to publicly announce that Acapulco is not as unsafe as people have made it out to be. Yes, bad things have happened and yes, it is very terrifying to hear of such things, I agree. As a person who has been coming here (almost) my entire life, I can honestly say I have never felt unsafe and I have most definitely never been harmed.
The Mexicans (that I've met at least) are so warm and friendly to everyone they meet. Today for example, the taxi driver took us on a tour of Acapulco free of charge. Just because he loves the city he lives in and wanted us to experience the beauty Acapulco has to offer.
If you still feel a little uneasy about the whole situation, but still want to give Acapulco a chance (which is what I totally would do) try "New Acapulco." There's many new and beautiful resorts. The weather in Acapulco ranges from 28 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees Celsius. I have never seen rain in Acapulco, and you pray for wind to appear (because it is just that hot). Every year, Acapulco's weather blesses me with an amazing tan. I typically wear number 30 sunscreen and still manage become a dark chocolate colour by the end of week two. Acapulco never disappoints. #AcapulcoPuede
As I said before, I love to experience different cultures. I especially love to explore different cultural foods. This Thursday (and every Thursday to follow) is pozole Thursday. What on earth is a pozole you ask? Well that was my question too. Until Thursday.
This Thursday I went to a restaurant named "Si Señor" a traditional Mexican restaurant, that follows no traditions, except for in their foods. Si Señor's had a name change. As a kid I always grew up going to a place called Señor Frogs, but the owner of the restaurant decided to drop the name (and the franchise fees) and start his own restaurant; taking all his past knowledge and experience of the food business with him. After speaking to the locals (and seeing how packed the restaurant was) I found out that the name change did not only make the restaurant more profitable, but it also improved the quality of the food, along with the experience that came along with the food.
Si Señor was extremely busy this Thursday, and by "extremely busy" I mean, we had a Linner (lunch + dinner) reservations for 5:00pm, we were 10 minutes late and our table was given away. We then waited two more hours before being able to get a new table. During the wait, the waiters brought us large drinks to ease the pain of waiting in the scorching heat (and being insanely hungry). You don't realize how hungry you are until you're asked to sit and wait for two hours before you're able to get some food; let me tell you! The drinks seemed to really help, I must say.
Before I knew it, we were being lead to a table that had the most amazing view of the Acapulco Bay. I was very impressed.
I ordered my sangria, and started sipping away all my troubles.
Just kidding. I mean, with that beautiful view of the ocean AND the city, who could have any troubles? Not this girl.
For some reason Mexican drink (in shot glasses) shrimp soup before their meals? Not really sure what happened there, but before I knew it a waiter had given me a shot glass filled with shrimp soup and told me to add salt and lime juice... I did as I was told. Naturally though I questioned him and decided to try this soup au natural.. bad idea. The soup was weird and extremely fishy. I decided that I wasn't giving the soup a fair chance because I wasn't eating it the Mexican way. I added the lime juice and salt. I loved it! The lime and salt took away the strong fishy flavour. I ended up having two of them. (hehe!)
As the night goes on, there is music pumping on the stereo systems. The whole restaurant was going along wit the music and singing. Mexicans know how to party. Nightlife in Acapulco is very much alive. A few minutes later, I noticed a strange looking band walking towards us with guitars. It was a mariachi band! Such an awesome and authentic Mexican experience.
Finally my (specially made) vegetarian pozole arrived. Actually they brought to my table a strange plate with so many different things on it I really didn't understand what was happening. Unfortunately, the restaurant was very dark so the picture I took didn't come out at all. It was explained to me that the first plate with filled with blocks of cheese, avocado and other Mexican delicacies. That plate was the appetizer and was part of the main meal. Confused? So was I. Apparently you were suppose to wait for your main meal before you started munching away at the first mountain of food. I did not understand this concept and I was hungry..... so I ate almost all of it before my second course arrived (oops!). The second course: soup! Guys, I was so confused at this point I just poured the soup in my mouth and called it a day (but not before I threw in a couple of cheese squares in there first). Apparently the soup was made out of vegetables and Mexican corn. The corn honestly looked like popcorn, I know.. don't believe me.. just look at the (horrible) picture I took.
There's something you need to understand before I continue. There are few things in life I love just as much as I love coffee. Here's a short list of them:
- My dog Bacio
- Cheese
- Spicy foods
- Salt
- Chips
- Animals
Soup is not one of those things. Actually, I can honestly say I maybe have one soup per year. For some weird reason soup grosses me out. I don't know why. I really don't understand what goes through my head sometimes, but it just does. This soup though, was actually really good! Now, I didn't eat it properly, but I was told you're suppose to put the cheese and the avocado along with all the spices they had placed on the table AND THE LIMES in this particular soup. Now, I can admit that kinda sounds gross and maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed it quite as much if I had followed the rules, but you know what? The pozole without all the fancy toppings was really good! I actually liked it!
Si Señor was filled with tons and tons of people. There was not a single chair free in the entire restaurant. The vibes were positive and upbeat. There was not a single negative comment I could ever have. Inside the restaurant they had all these random signs up that were hilarious to read! If you are ever near a Si Señor do not miss the chance to try their pozole Thursday event! No one else has missed it, I promise.
Adios Amigos!
Stay Caffeinated.
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