Acapulco Mordida

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We left Zihuatanejo Saturday morning to go to Acapulco.

Acapulco was Mexico's first resort town and still serves as such. We do not really enjoy resort towns; if we did we would vacation in Florida or Missouri or maybe Hawaii. We travel to Mexico to experience the culture, the history, the nuances of everyday life, to escape the rat race of home and to survive without it. And, Acapulco is just another big city like Minneapolis, Chicago, whichever, where ever. But, it does not offer much for taking in local culture, traditions, history, customs. You can shop, eat, spend time at a hotel beach/or pool. Many people enjoy this type of vacation. We find it to be unsettling.

Regardless, we went to Acapulco hoping to attend a bullfight; there's some culture and history! Many people condemn this; we love it, we appreciate it, we respect it. For those who say it is cruel, I say visit a slaughter house then go for a burger.

So, we arrive to Acapulco, find the street where our hotel is located, cannot find the hotel. Ask for directions a few times, drive back and forth, need to drive back once more and Leila turns left on a green light when no traffic is approaching. Bad idea! Apparently this is illegal in Acapulco and Leila is pulled over by the police. After expressing apologies and promising never to do it again the officer explains that Leila will receive a ticket and her license will be held at the station until the ticket is paid. Leila replies "Ok, we understand, but now that you are here, would you mind bringing us to our hotel because we cannot seem to find it." So, we get a police escort to the Holiday Inn - NICE! (This would be a good time to add that Acapulco police have quite the reputation for mordidas , which are illegal to offer or accept.) Once in front of the hotel, the officer comes back and explains that the police station is very far and difficult to find, the fine for the ticket will cost more at the station (over $100), it will be expensive to go by taxi, and offers us to pay on the spot. We know the scam - and decline the offer. We then ask for his name and licence plate number and very visibly write it down on a scrap of paper. He explains again and we again decline. After a few more rounds of this he returns to his car to write up the ticket. Next up; officer number two. This time the fine for the ticket drops to $80 then $60 if we want to pay on the spot because he doesn't want us to be inconvenienced by having to go to the station and all. Again we decline. After a few more rounds he returns to the squad car, then goes into our hotel. A few moments later, officer number 2 returns with an employee from the hotel who is smiling big and welcomes us to the hotel in very good english, the he explains to us the same thing the officers had already explained. We reply that we know the mordida scam. He laughs, smiles, and suggests we give a tip of maybe $30. We counter with $20. The police agree, seem appeased, and return Leila's license.

We know of the scam. We know that by giving in we are contributing to and encouraging corruption. Our sincere apologies, but hey, we're on vacation and would rather pay $20 to avoid spending a day locating the police station and taking care of a ticket. Plus, we got to practice our negotiating skills.

So, we check-in to our hotel and ask about the bullfight. No bullfight; the season ended in Acapulco in February. Poop!

So, the next morning we check-out and head for Puerto Escondido.

No Acapulco pics to post. Looks the same as any other big city with an ocean.

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Comments

[james]

Bravo - good going with the cops...
not much to add, but thanks a lot for writing that up. I wish more people would do it.