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National Geographic : 1964 Dec
Contents
was just 750 F. Purple bougainvillea entwined our balcony rail. Our neighbors in the cottage down the hill were enjoying a morning swim in their private pool. Over the tops of fan shaped traveler's palms, we glimpsed the three-mile-long azure bay far below. And before us was our breakfast, a master work of papaya, pineapple, tangerines, ba nanas, cantaloupe, fresh orange juice, tender care asada(Mexican steak) for Hannah, two crisp pork chops for me, and crusty bolillos, Mexican rolls, with strawberry preserves. Cortes Gave Name to Acapulco Strand We spent that morning on the beach in Puerto Marqu6s Bay, a 15-minute drive from our hotel. In this horseshoe-shaped cove, says local lore, pirates once lurked-in wait for the Manila galleons that for 250 years brought the treasures of the Orient to Acapulco. Here, too, Hernin Cort6s, conqueror of Mexico and the marquis for whom Puerto Marqu6s is named, had shipyards, and here he stayed on his frequent visits to Acapulco. Of Acapulco's many beaches, Puerto Mar qu6s retains most of the relaxed Mexican fla vor we had relished 17 years ago. We rented chairs (one peso each-8 cents-for the day) and enjoyed the spectacle. Sailboats with col orful striped sails lined the beach, awaiting hire (foldout, pages 851-2). Vendors balanced wares atop their heads: corncakes, ices, ta males, boiled crabs. Out on the water, sud denly, a water-skier launched a parachute like rig called a Para-Sail and rose 300 feet into the air. Behind us, a row of coconut thatched restaurant-homes sold charcoal broiled fish and cebiche, marinated raw fish, for pennies. Charming tykes offered us shells, shell necklaces, and the ojo de venado, a seed resembling a deer's eye that witch doctors use to avert the evil eye and hemorrhoids. We drove into town in the afternoon and bought Hannah a daring fuchsia slack set of hand-crocheted raw silk at Peggy Pefia's high fashion shop. In the evening Peggy's hand some husband, Memo, Acapulco's best-known travel agent (page 868), introduced us to Lana Turner at the Villa Vera piano bar. For dinner we ate buttery fettucini on the balcony of Dino's restaurant overlooking the bay-a magic scene by night, with light-strung ships at anchor and the colored lights of the town reflected in the water. "It's la dolce vita," Hannah said, "and I love it." I agreed. In 17 years Acapulco had grown up; the youthful simplicity has all but gone, but an alluring sophistication has replaced it. And yet there is another, more serious Aca pulco: a sprawling city of 100,000 Mexicans fighting for a toehold in paradise. Most of these residents live on tourism, the only major industry except for the copra trade. Their Acapulco has grown too-tenfold in 30 years -and this has brought all the problems of too-rapid expansion. In the street outside the Centro de Salud, Acapulco's health center, I saw two of these problems exemplified: A little utterly naked brown boy of three strolled along all alone, happily sucking his thumb; a gaunt Indian mother with a lined old face sat on the curb Twin towers of the Cathedral of Nuestra Sefiora de la Soledad overlook the Z6calo, the central square of downtown Acapulco. The parish erected the church from parts of an unbuilt movie theater, which explains its Moorish appearance. Polka-dot spinnaker balloons from iQue Tal? (How Goes It?), a 50-foot Hong Kong built sloop, whose owners hail from Gal veston, Texas. 856
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