Day 7 – January 5, Acapulco

We arrived in Acapulco early this morning. We ended up seeing 4 performances by the cliff divers today. When we got off the ship, we took a cab to the restaurant near where the divers perform (La Quebrada) so that we could get "the lay of the land" and know where to be for the first show at 1 PM. It was not quite 10 AM, but we figured we'd look around the neighborhood until lunch time when we had reservations at the restaurant so we could eat while we watched the divers. Just as we got there, we realized the divers were going to do an unscheduled dive for the two tour groups that were there, so we went down the steps to the viewing platform and watched in awe as the divers dove into the narrow space between high rock walls. There were five divers, one a girl about 14, the rest boys as young as 12 or 13 up to about 18. The divers walked down about 200 steps to the viewing platform, climbed down the viewers’ side of the cliff, swam across the water which was about 20 feet to the other side, and then climbed up the sheer rock walls barefoot with great ease. They dove from different heights depending on their skill level, with the girl and youngest boy diving from about 50 feet all the way to top height of over 100 feet where the oldest dove from. As we climbed the 200 steps back to the top, we learned they were going to dive again in about twenty minutes so we walked back down the steps to claim the best places for viewing along the wall. This time there were 11 divers - the original 5 plus more teenaged boys and 2 older men. All but the two youngest climbed to the top of the cliff even if they were not going to jump from that height. As they were preparing to dive, many of them knelt before one of the two altars at the top to pray. Then they would climb to the precipice of their choosing to jump.

After they got in the position from which they were going to dive, they would take a while to get mentally prepared and also waited until they knew the waves would bring enough water into the narrow pool giving them about 15 feet of water in which to jump. With it only being 15 feet deep they certainly didn't want to hit the water when it was several feet shallower Sometimes 2 or 3 of them would dive together, and sometimes one or two would dive backwards. It was amazing and scary. Besides the fact that hitting the water from that height is like hitting a brick wall, the divers had to be very careful to jump far enough out to avoid hitting the cliff on the way down as well as not jumping too far and hitting the cliff on the other side.

After the second show we climbed back up the stairs to the top and walked around the area looking in the shops. There weren't many shops and it was very hot, so we decided to go to the restaurant early to eat and wait for the show. We had a nice lunch of chicken enchiladas while we watched three youngsters aged from about 8 to 11 practice their skills to become the next generation of famous divers. The divers preformed two shows in a row again at lunch time, so in all we saw four shows! The view from the restaurant was good, and allowed us to see them knife into the water. I was glad to have seen them from the viewing platform earlier as there we were closer and could see the expressions on their faces. In the afternoon several people arrived in boats to watch the performance and after completing their dive, the divers swam out to the boats to get tips.

We walked a mile downhill back to the ship followed by two young sisters trying to get us to buy a woven fan. We passed many extremely small shops/businesses (5x5 up to 10x10). We saw a couple of shops that must have been tailor’s shops as there was just enough room for a sewing machine set up in each. Neither had anyone working in them, although the doors were open. We saw another shop for clothes pressing and some for fruits or juices- some just set up on sidewalk. Dead chickens hung on a rope across the street or piled on a counter outside uncovered. Gray water (we hope it wasn’t black!) drained out of houses and businesses onto the street. There was lots of traffic trying to move, but getting nowhere. At the harbor a man was skinning a fish, leaving the smelly remains by the sidewalk. The city was very dirty and felt unsafe. We felt a little bit uncomfortable at times but it was an eye-opening experience to be sure. We take too much for granted. By the pure grace of God we were born in America. Bob says even though he was born poor, he never experienced anything like most Mexicans experience every day right now.

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