On our third day in Acapulco, we took a tour of the city with our trustworthy guide, Baldomero. He goes by Baldo, which is awesome on so many levels. He was also like 3 or four inches shorter than me, but we didn't mind because he knows so much about the city, was honest and genuinely helpful to us. He drove us all over the place and we had a blast. Our first major stop was the Capilla de laPaz, or the Chapel of Peace. It's one of the highest points in the city and sits atop a cliff overlooking Acapulco. Here we are by the Mexican Flag just outside the Chapel:
Inside the Chapel of Peace; it's rather small, but beautiful. Most of the black you see is either wood or onyx and frankly, it's hard to tell the difference unless you touch it.
The cross that stands on the grounds reaches over 130 feet high...
Matt' stellar panoramic of the view. Click on the pic to see it larger- the view is so magnificent!
Here's a pic of Baldo. Hes aweseome.
“Las Manos de la Hermandad”, “Hands of Brotherhood”, two hands asking for peace to heaven, made by the the famous carver Claudio Favier. You'll notice (if you are super observant to detail like Matt) that they are two right hands.
Apparently the family who built the Chapel of Peace was struck with a great deal of tragedy and death all within a few years. So, one of the main purposes of the Chapel is to serve as the resting place for the bodies and ashes of those family members. Other random people pay a great deal of money to have their ashes kept here as well.
The Chapel is located in an exclusive and extremely expensive residential area known as Las Brisas. Like so exclusive that Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova own the house right across the street:
(I have no idea if they are actually still together)
And just outside the gates of Las Brisas is Sylvester Stallone's Acapulco Home:
One of my favorite things about Mexico is that they are smart. NO ONE drinks Pepsi here. (cause it's gross) It's all about Coca Cola. And you can get coke for dirt cheap. Yay!
After driving around the city a bit, we headed to the:
Why do you ask? Well, apparently John Wayne and some of his friends owned this place for their own personal hideaway back in the day. one of those friends was Johnny Weismuller, who played the original Tarzan. Baldo seemed a bit miffed that we had never heard of him before.
At first, it seemed like a quaint little hotel and restaurant, nothing particularly remarkable.
Then I walked out to the balcony and Matt had a hard time pulling me away:
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For some reason, this view was the most beautiful of all to me. It was so peaceful.
We didn't get a good still shot, but if you look over the edge, you can watch the waves crash into the rocks and the water is such a remarkable blue. The whole place was incredibly secluded and tranquil. I kinda wish we had stayed here for lunch.
But... instead we went and had lunch while we watched the Cliff Diving Show!
These crazy people climb up these cliffs multiple times a day to jump off the cliffs into the water. (Which was rather choppy) It was all a little overwhelming to me! Look in the top right of this pic and you can see the guy doing a flip:
And here's a guy flying through the air. It's totally nuts to me. There is even a little kid that does it... he looks about 9 or so. The whole time, I just keep thinking someone is going to get a traumatic brain injury. But- it was a pretty incredible way to have lunch!
Here's a few videos of the divers:
On our way back home, we stopped to see some of the artwork of Diego Rivera, who lived in Acapulco:
Pretty incredible mosaics:
Stay Tuned for Pics from our Last Few Days in Acapulco!
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