I wasn’t sure what to expect from a visit to Acapulco so soon after a Category 5 hurricane ripped through this fabled resort town on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
But here I was, with the sky on fire from a magnificent sunset, sipping on a chilled martini with my wife at the Las Brisas hotel’s sunset bar in Acapulco’s iconic Zona Diamante neighborhood, listening to a saxophonist blow a jazzy version of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love.”
The glamorous pink and white Las Brisas, once a favorite destination for Hollywood celebs like Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, politicians John F. Kennedy, LBJ, Prince Charles and musicians Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart, is nestled in 40 acres of lush hibiscus gardens atop a hill overlooking Acapulco Bay.
Ringo Star even wrote a song titled “Las Brisas” after staying at the resort. Like elevators, pink Volkswagen jeeps ferry guests from the lobby up steep, winding roads to over 240 spacious bungalow-style casitas, each equipped with its own plunge pool. Upon waking up, continental breakfasts (with hot coffee) magically appear in rooms via drop box.
By all appearances, the 70-year-old Las Brisas emerged unscathed by Hurricane Otis in October. But Las Brisas general manager Ricardo Suarez said appearances can be deceiving.
“The hurricane blew in around midnight and basically destroyed everything in the rooms,” Suarez said. “The only thing left standing were the (stone) walls.”
Suarez described two hours of sheer terror for the guests, Las Brisas staff and their families as they huddled in bathrooms on lower levels, listening to winds of more than 165 miles an hour crash through windows and toss furniture and wall paintings around the rooms.
By the next morning, Suarez and his staff were already beginning to put the shattered hotel back together with all new furnishings, windows, and doors and repainted the entire property. Remarkably, Las Brisas opened nearly half of its rooms within six weeks.
“We wanted to make a statement to the rest of the city and to tourists,” Saurez said. “That we were open for business and that we were coming back.”
Sadly, the rest of the city hasn’t been as quick to recover from the devastation. Many of the city’s hotels and businesses look like empty shells, and hotel capacity is less than half of what it was before Otis struck. Half the city’s traffic lights are still not operating, and many upscale restaurants remain closed.
But over our four days here in mid-April, we saw an unwavering resolve from residents to restore some of Acapulco’s former glory.
On our second night, we were treated to the world-famous La Quebrada Cliff Divers show during a delicious dinner at Hotel El Mirador’s La Perla Restaurant, which offered prime seating for watching the terrifying and nerve-wracking tradition of divers launching themselves off a 150-foot cliff into a narrow channel with 20 feet of water.
Between shows, we were introduced to two brave divers, one who was only 13 years old and began training with his uncle at 11. The 60 male and female divers belong to a union, learning from elders how to navigate the tides and ocean depths to avoid devastating accidents.
As the sun set on the cliffs, the divers added more drama, leaping off the rocks with torches.
The next day was Thursday, pozole day in the Acapulco state of Guerrero, so we braved 95-degree heat to eat hot green pozole soup for lunch on the patio at El Nido, located at the top of Cerro del Mogote, a tiny mountain in the eastern part of Acapulco. The shredded chicken pozole, served with cabbage, avocado and corn, was the best meal of our trip.
While we ate, a talented group of mariachis entertained us, and a massive fan kept us cool. Mezcal is the perfect pairing for pozole, so the mezcal tasting from Alquimista was a nice touch. I passed on the mezcal with a wasp at the bottom of the bottle.
We spent several hours of our last day on a pontoon, cruising through mangroves toward the Tres Palos Lagoon, where we were amused by dozens of species of birds and jumping fish. An hour into our cruise, some in our group climbed off the boat and gave themselves facials by painting their faces with mud from the bottom of the shallow lagoon. Legend has it that clay reduces 15 years of wrinkles.
On our last night, we attended a cocktail party at a penthouse suite, where we were entertained by our favorite saxophonist and his daughter. As we reflected on our charmed stay at the Las Brisas, we realized we never made it to the spa or the swim-up bar at the beachside Club de Playa La Concha. But the flight from Tijuana through the Cross Border Xpress on Volaris was only three hours, so we’ll have to return.
