Back to our riding fun

That last night in our hut in Sayulita was also the first one where we had no rain, which was a good sign for the next day. We got early enough to watch a beautiful sunrise on the beach, the sky sparkled with a few pink, orange and yellow clouds. No rain in sight: we will be back on our bikes today after three days of rest, and obviously with a very early start. Caroline jumped on her bike but it would not start, probably due to all the rain it got on it. We had to push start it and the engine finally roared after a few attempts. We were ready to get back on the road.

Three days to reach Acapulco
One thing we had underestimated when we plan our time in Mexico was the size of the country: we thought we would cross it in 2 weeks at most and now, it has been three weeks and we are nowhere close to Belize. Don't get us wrong, we love our time here and so far, Mexico has exceeded all the expectations we had: the roads, the sights, the food, the people and security in general. The other thing is that there are not many highways here and when they are some, you have to pay a toll so we have decided to stick to rural roads, which has also slowed down our pace quite a lot but improved our experience since the people and the environment are so much nicer in smaller town.
As we went back on the bikes that morning, we felt all excited and energized about riding in improved weather. We would follow the road along the Pacific Coast and reach Acapulco in a few days. After Puerto Vallarta, to our surprise, the small curvy road took us through a dense jungle with beautiful wild flowers along the road. We got comfortable riding the bike again and did enjoy those curves a lot, even if our pace was much slower than we initially thought. We even saw a few scorpions and tarantulas crossing the road in front of us, from the security of our bike! There were also donkeys, goats and cows sometimes on the road that we avoided without a problem. This is exactly why we don't ride at night.
We rode through many small towns with our favorite speed bumps each time, stopped to drink Coco Frios (the water within chilled coconuts) when it was too hot and made it a point to enjoy nice long lunches during the hottest time of the day. We stayed in small towns along the coast and finally on Saturday afternoon, reached Acapulco for a little rest.

Acapulco Police: 0 – Caroline and Chad: 2

After settling into our hotel, we went straight to the beach, where we climbed on rocks, walked along the water and had a beer at sunset time. Acapulco is around a Bahia which allows you to have that 360 view of its beaches. The hotels are showing their age here and the water is not particularly blue but we were happy to be in this famous beach city. There was a lot of Mexican spending the weekend with their family and we saw very few gringos; maybe the season has not started yet or Acapulco has become more of a Mexican destination. After a delicious seafood dinner, we headed to La Quebrada to see the famous Cliff Divers. We were going to enjoy one of the night shows.

Shortly after we arrived at the cliff, the divers came down the stairs, greeting the crowd in their tiny speedos with the Mexican colors. They started climbing down the rocks and when close to the water, jumped. They were all swimming towards the cliff across the ocean water, from where they would jump. As soon as they set foot on the rocks, they started climbing up the steep cliff as if it was the easiest thing to do. Just watching that was scary: what if one fell? Of the five divers, two climbed to the top at 35 meters (120 feet) and three stopped at bout 25 meters (80 feet). The first one stepped forward, looking down at the rumbling water and after having the crowd cheer from him, swan dived gracefully into the water. It was amazing to watch, scary and almost hypnotizing. The other divers followed suit, throwing in a few flips into the mix and duet dives until there was only one diver left, all the way to the top. He prayed at a small shrine on the cliff top, turned around and lit two torches. He then dove from this incredible height, with such grace and ease, letting go of the torches close to the water. We could not believe what a show these guys had put on, wondering if they were brave or just crazy!

Now you must wonder what the score above between the police and us has to do with this story: it was the dark side of our stay in Acapulco. In less than 24 hours, we were stopped twice by the police under false pretenses to get some bribe money and we can proudly report that this time, we were able to pay no fine at all. It's both luck and more experience with the police game.

The first one was a few minutes after we had parked one of the bikes close to the beach. A policeman stopped us on the sidewalk and told us we had burned a stop light. We played dumb, not understanding what he was saying and not giving out our ID as requested. We were going to the playa we told him. After a few minutes, he got a little impatient and said we will have to pay the fine at the police station on Monday. We said that it was ok with us and that he should give us the address and his name. At that point, he said he would just give us a warning and that we could go. First victory! The next day, when we rode through town, we were super careful to not brake any law: right on the speed limit, looking for stop signs and stopping at red lights at the early yellow phase. Well, we still got pulled over for driving too fast in curves. This time we got the help of a Mexican who we had talked to at the previous traffic light and who loved our bikes and was interested about our journey. When he saw we were in trouble, he pulled over too. We had started playing dumb again but then he talked to the cops, saying that we worked with him on a government mission to study the turtles in the area. He pulled out his government ID and the cops asked us if it was true and if we were with the guy: we nodded. And so they left! We were super grateful about the help this stranger had provided. Next time he said, just tell them you work for the government. Not sure if we can pull it off without his official ID;)

We definitively know by now that bribing is the plague of the bigger Mexican cities: first in La Paz and now in Acapulco. You have to be quite good or lucky not to pay any, it seems that it should almost be part of your vacation budget if you are driving in Mexico. We were lucky for sure in Acapulco to win the game twice and be able to walk away. We will definitively keep our eyes open to future encounters with the police and hope we are lucky again.