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MG Rabon

Sep 1, 2005, 3:32 PM

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Grand Plaza - Acapulco

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Modern Mexico - and how you might not recognize it when you see it.

People are always telling me I can't miss something. "Yeah, just drive down this way and you can't miss it." Right! ;-) Well sometimes you CAN miss it

When I first stayed in Acapulco for any length of time, I had occasion to need some little part for my Zippo lighter. Most of the people that I asked really didn't seem to understand, the ones who did, said I could find the parts at the Grand Plaza.

Ok, well I'm from a town in Florida that was founded by Spaniards, built around several Grand Plazas, so I think I know one when I see it. First I go to the Zocalo, but nothing there had parts for my Zippo. So I ask the mozo about the Grand Plaza, and he said that it wasn't at the Zocalo, but rather the other direction, towards the Golden Zone, on the Costera.

So here we go down to the Costera. The Costera is an 8 to 10 lane avenue that runs along the beach in the newer tourist zone, known as the Golden Zone. Lots of traffic, crazy busses of every description ranging from the elaborate and noisy rolling discos, to dilapidated school busses from the 1950's, with passengers and their farm animals onboard. Rusted Vocho taxicabs with hyperactive 14-year-old pilots zip in and out of the procession of busses. Brake lights are the exception rather than the rule. Not the place to be wandering aimlessly looking for Zippo parts, but here we are anyway.

Up down the Costera we go, no Grand Plaza do I see anywhere. We get as far as the navy base and turn back, maybe we missed it? Back down the Costera, looking diligently for a Grand Plaza. We saw nothing, not even a puny little plaza, certainly not a GRAND plaza. How could we have missed it?

The next day, I'm speaking with an expat I'd met at the Zocalo, and I relate my story to him. He stops me and says, "what, you can't find the Grand Plaza mall?" Mall? Nobody said anything about a mall. So he gives me directions, tells me it's right on the Costera, I really can't miss it as it's huge. Off I go out into the madness that is the Costera in high season, again. Up the Costera and down the Costera, I do not see a mall. I make the trip twice, no mall.

The next day I run into my friend again at the Zocalo, and he asked if I found the Grand Plaza. I shrug and tell him I just can't seem locate it. He says he can't believe I can't find the biggest thing in town, right on the Costera, well everyone knows where it is. Well no, apparently not.

This time he draws me a map, pinpoints the block the Grand Plaza is in. Off I go again, I find the block, nothing that looks anything like a mall back home looks is in this town, much less in this block. Ok, so he says it's the biggest thing on the Costera, well there is some huge building there with a few storefronts. The big building says Grand Plaza exactly zero times on it, it says instead Fabrique Fransais (sp?). I park and check it out anyway, at one end it has the entrance to a VIPS that I'm embarrassed to say I'd eaten at a couple of times, apparently I'd been to the Grand Plaza and never even knew it. It doesn't SAY Grand Plaza, and it isn't what I'd CALL a Grand Plaza, but there it is. The VIPS was actually where they had the parts for my Zippo. Go figure.

Why didn't someone just tell me that to start off with? ;-)

You gotta love Mexico

Compórtate bien, y si no puedes, invítame!
MG Rabon

(This post was edited by MG Rabon on Sep 1, 2005, 3:37 PM)

tonyburton

Sep 1, 2005, 3:59 PM

Post #2 of 5 (1247 views)

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Re: [MG Rabon] Grand Plaza - Acapulco

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Nice one! Thanks for sharing. I'm sure your story struck a chord in many travelers. At the risk of turning this thread into a discussion of the "best" set of directions ever given, perhaps others would like to share their own stories of how directions and misdirections often turn out to be interesting experiences...? Anyone care to start??

Esteban

Sep 1, 2005, 4:59 PM

Post #3 of 5 (1241 views)

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Re: [tonyburton] Grand Plaza - Acapulco

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I'll make it short. A friend of mine used to have a Nissan diesel pickup. We went down to his mechanic to find a part and the mechanic said he might know of someone who could possibly have a used part. We ended up going to about every diesel junkyard and mechanic in the whole friggin city of Mazatlan. IT took at least three hours. What I really suspect is that the mechanic saw a chance to visit all his old friends in the business. We never did find the part.

Nancy4

Sep 6, 2005, 11:24 AM

Post #4 of 5 (1197 views)

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Re: [Esteban] Grand Plaza - Acapulco

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Sure. A lesson well learned here by these gringos. Touring happily through MX from Nuervo Lorado(sp), getting lost, finding our way, who cared...enjoying the sites with five months ahead of us. We were on the main highway, traveling towards Ciudad MX, looking for the turn off to the pyramids and ruins. Lost! So we do what most lost people do, we exit the highway to turn around!!! Very bad, amigos. Caught by a policia, waving us over, here, come here. Park there. Now, your auto (spanish words escapes me), many infractions (he is telling US this after we just bought this car three months ago!!! "Is our headlight out?" I asked. Many infraciones. It will cost you uno mil. (hmmm... just one moment officer, mil, mil. we don't recognize that in pesos...EEK! I screamed to my husband. Peter, he wants $1,000 A.D. WHAT? My husband and I tried to explain we did not carry that much cash. He was pretty insistent. Two weeks in our dream country, and we have to contribute uno mil! Finally, speaking No spanish my husband took out some cash! Oh, fine, but no, what do you have? He is clearly talking to me now! At this point I knew I didn't have uno mil so sure, but like a green gringo, I gave him my cash. American dollar, American dollar he stated. OK! Si, here! Well, the short of it is we headed BACK away from the ciudad (because we did not want to turn around AGAIN (we were a little gun shy). Heading, of course, for the nearest ATM. Ironically, we met a wonderful Mexican couple who obviously misunderstood what we said when we told them what happened! (Lesson Number 2: Be careful who you ask for directions!) They said, "Oh si, shaking their heads, yes, follow us and we said, shaking our heads, oh si, mucho gracias! So we did. All THE WAY BACK TO QUERETARO! After the first hour my husband and I agreed we had already seen this part of the country, but we followed them for 3.5 hours!!! We could not get their attencion and certainly did not want to appear rude and it was true, we were in no hurry!
So back, back and back we went. All because of one wrong turn! It ends well, though. When they found out what they had done (took us in the wrong direction), they felt so badly and embarassed, they insisted on buying dinner at their favorite restuarant, ordering me a special "cactus" appetizer that, of course, I ate, like a good gringo! Smiling all the time, too. They took us to a lovely hotel, spotting us $110 for one night! So between our policio experience and driving BACK 3.5 hours and staying at a hotel I am sure they themselves didn't stay at (but they wanted us to be very very comfortable), it only cost us $610+. The following morning we said the heck with the pyramids and ruins, go past go and don't turn back! We did learn, however, from our new acquaintances how to handle the MX policio and believe me before we reached our waiting Acapulco hotel, we got to practice THREE times! Now, we are old hands at it. Now we agree to go to the stations with them or say we will pay for the ticket. Works every time! They basically tell us to go.

So when you are out and about, think first, do you really have to make that turn!

Viva la Mexico!

misslyn

Sep 9, 2005, 4:08 PM

Post #5 of 5 (1162 views)

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Re: [tonyburton] Grand Plaza - Acapulco

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Sr. Rabon, I feel your pain! Things just don't look the same to us gringos, I guess. And heaven forbid we should depend on those guidebooks, however recently published -- I can't tell you how many deserted malls and closed museums I've tracked down.

My favorite experience of that wonderful "si" attitude was a trip I made to Puebla, where I met up with my friend's family from Poza Rica for the weekend. One morning we set out sightseeing and split into two groups, agreeing to meet at a famous restaurant for mole poblano (the name of which I've forgotten) at lunchtime. When it was time for our group to head for the restaurant we found ourselves pretty hopelessly lost and started asking for directions, none of which took us to our destination. Finally along came a family (mom, pop and two children) who were out for a leisurely stroll. Not only did they offer directions, they insisted on taking us directly to the door of the restaurant, and kindly stopped along the way when I spotted something in a store window that I wanted to take home for my son. Having delivered us to the restaurant, they took their leave and we sat down inside to wait for the rest of the group. About a half hour passed, and a couple of inquiries to the waitress, but no one appeared. Finally we learned that there were two locations for this restaurant and we persuaded someone to call the other for us - sure enough our group was there, wondering why we were so late!

A friend of mine once went to Merida to study. He took a taxi to his homestay where he was greeted at the door by a young man. He explained that he was there to stay while going to school. The young man apologized profusely, saying that his mother wasn't home but he would immediately prepare the guest room. The next morning my friend found the lady of the house in the kitchen. She fed him a bounteous breakfast and joined him for a cup of coffee. Only when he had finished and sat back with a contented sigh did she tell him, "Senor, I'm so sorry, but the taxi driver brought you to the wrong address. The house you want is on the next street over, where I will take you when you're ready."

Only in Mexico!

Lyn in San Diego