Good morning, Acapulco

Today we are in port in Acapulco, Mexico. We've been on the ship for one week. So far, so good. LOL We debated even getting off the ship today but finally decided to get out and walk for a bit. 

 

balcony view upon awakening

 

 

 

 

sidewalk fruit vendor

We first walked to up to Acapulco's most historic building, the San Diego Fort which was originally built in 1616 to protect the town from pirate attacks. Today it serves as Acapulco's Historical Museum but unfortunately it was closed, presumably because it is Sunday. 

 

San Diego Fort (note gun ports)

cruise ship in background

 

 

 From there we walked to the Old City where the sidewalks were crowded with persons on each side selling their wares - everything from cell phone cases, chargers, batteries, toys, food - pretty much anything you can think of. I snapped a quick photo of this little girl peeling....something? It's not a pear or an pple or a potato. What it is? Fruit? Vegetable? Cactus? Does anyone know? Anyway, I thought she looked cute, hard at work helping her Mama. 

 

helping Mama

 

We walked back to the ship and had lunch, then both took a nap (why not?) As I was getting ready for dinner, Ronnie walked out on deck and listened to some mariachi music, accompanied by dancers. 

 

Mariachi Band entertaining on deck

 

Tonight was "Red Ginger" night in the Terrace Cafe in celebration of the Chinese New Year. They may have to roll me off this ship 6 months from now if I don't develop more self control. We both agree that the food is very good and most of the time I do "ok" but it's the sticky buns at breakfast that so far have been impossible to resist! There is always onboard entertainment in the evenings. The shows start at 9:30 p.m. when most people are finished with dinner. Tonight was a magic show but we opted out. One can do basically as much (or as little) as one wants to do both during the day and at night.

I forgot to mention that last night we ate in the Toscana Grill, one of the 2 specialty restaurants onboard. We were seated with 4 others. One was an elderly Japanese widower named Yuri. He told us he was born before WWII, was educated in the US (his father educated in Germany and his mother in Italy). He was retired from Time Life Publications. He has traveled extensively and lived in many different places. I'm surprised by how many older people travel alone. He had booked an excursion today and one of the things he was curious about was how much it cost to see the cliff divers now. He said it was 25 cents the last time he was here! He also told us that since losing his wife he "is ready to go anytime."

I almost forgot to mention that we went to "church" before dinner. It is a non-denominational (Christian) worship service each Sunday led by an English couple. Although it was held in the lounge, lights were used to transform it to look like a cathedral with stained class windows from floor to ceiling all across the front. Additionally, we learned that the ship offers book studies (by Christian author Max Lucado) at 8:15 a.m. on weekday mornings. That would be a good way to meet other Christians onboard but right now we are both doing the Kingdom Divided study in BSF. If you're doing it, you already know that there is quite a bit of reading involved. Amazingly, Ronnie was able to participate in his zoom group last week in spite of our less-than-wonderful internet situation; however I wasn't able to connect at all for mine. Hopefully next week?

 Overall, it's been a very good day.