The Grand Mayan Acapulco in Mexico

Though our trip to Acapulco in April of 2009 goes down in the books as one of the worst I’ve ever taken, (see the article, Acapulco Mexico - Our First Disaster Vacation), the resort we stayed at was beautiful.  It’s located about 20 minutes from downtown Acapulco which is one of the things I loved about it; I liked that we weren’t right in the city surrounded by all the noise and traffic.  The resort has a number of restaurants, a cyber café, health spa, gift shop, clothing store, and a small convenience store stocked with the essential snacks, drinks, and a limited selection of medications.  The fact that we could spend our entire vacation at the resort without really having to leave was a lifesaver since our son—who was 1 ½ at the time—got sick the first day there.  The onsite doctor was also wonderful!  

My husband and son in the open-air lobby of the Grand Mayan Acapulco.

Our room at the Grand Mayan Acapulco was beautiful!  My husband had called ahead and requested an ocean view in honor of our anniversary (it happened to coincide with the wedding we were there to attend), and we were fortunate enough to get one.  When we stepped inside we found the hotel staff had left a large vase of flowers and a basket of goodies for us to celebrate with.  They’d also made a little dog out of towels and placed it on our bed; our son thought that was the coolest thing ever!  He also loved the  

Our son enjoying the jacuzzi tub.

Jacuzzi-sized tub in the room and couldn’t wait to take a bath at the end of each day.  The bathroom was large and comfortable and the room was huge.  It had a giant, king-sized bed, a full closet, a couch and coffee table, and a balcony overlooking the pools and ocean.  We enjoyed sitting on the private balcony each morning while our son colored on the little patio table between us.  I could see that the room next to ours had a small pool on their balcony and while I thought that would be great for adults or families with older kids, I was glad we didn’t have one with our room.  It would have made the balcony a lot less enjoyable if we were constantly trying to keep our son from falling in!    

The Infinity Pool at the Grand Mayan Acapulco.

While we really enjoyed our room, our favorite feature of the Grand Mayan Acapulco was the pool; we were told during our stay that it’s one of the longest in all of Latin America.  On one end there’s a deep infinity pool positioned in such a way that it seems to just disappear into the ocean beyond it.  Way on the other end is a shallow kid’s pool separated from the deeper water by a rock barrier.  Connecting the two ends is a very long, winding pool that passes beneath a bridge before finally leading out to the other side.  It’s surrounded by lounge chairs and patio tables all along its length and roving waiters allow you to place a food or drink order without ever having to get out of the water.  There are also a number of activities that go on here throughout the day.  Everything from water aerobics to bingo are available for anyone interested in joining in!  

My husband and son enjoying the lazy river in the Aqua Park.

The resort also has what they call an Aqua Park which is great for the whole family. Unfortunately our son was sick so we had to keep him out of the water for most of the trip, but we did give the water park a try at the end.  While the other pool is free to all guests, the water park charges for admission.  We were fortunate to receive one free entrance with our stay since we were there with a wedding party and we were really glad we used it!  There are a number of slides and water toys that provide lots to do but in our opinion, the best part was the lazy river.  It was so popular that sometimes we had to wait to grab a raft, but it was worth it!  The air temperature and water temperature were so closely matched that we never felt chilled; it ended up being the perfect way for our son to feel like he was enjoying the water without actually swimming.  As with the pool, the Aqua Park also had a staff of waiters ready to fill any of our food or drink orders while we lounged by the water.  

My son and I enjoying our breakfast at the Bakal Restaurant and Cafe.

There are several different places to eat at the resort and our favorite was the Bakal Restaurant and Café.  It’s all outdoors with an incredible view of the ocean.  The menu offers a fairly wide selection for lunch and dinner and the breakfast buffet has more choices than you can eat in one sitting!  They even had a good assortment of foods that our little son could enjoy.  The room service menu was also good.  We ordered breakfast in our room one morning and ate on the balcony while enjoying the view!  

The Grand Mayan Acapulco was a stunning resort and very family-friendly; it’s the perfect place for a vacation with the kids.  Not only were there plenty of water activities, but there was also a kid’s club with daily programs for children ages 4-11 and an arcade.  The T.V. in the room even had the Disney Channel and our son enjoyed watching some of his favorite Playhouse Disney shows in Spanish!  

My husband and son enjoying sunset on the beach.

For more information visit the Grand Mayan Acapulco website!

View from our hotel in Acapulco, Mexico.

In April of 2009, my husband and I along with our then 1 ½-year old son left our home in Southern Utah to make the trek to Acapulco, Mexico.  To be honest, it was not someplace I’d ever had any desire to go despite the numerous reports from friends on how wonderful it was.  Though my husband had been anxious to visit what he half-jokingly calls ‘The Mother Land’ for years, the only reason I finally agreed to go was because we’d be attending the wedding of one of his best friends.  I had traveled internationally before but with all the reports of violence and crime coming out of Mexico, I was extremely nervous to head south.  Still, “How bad can it be,” I asked myself “when the whole wedding party is going?”  Sadly, I was about to find out.  

The closest major airport to our home is in Las Vegas (McCarran International Airport) Nevada nearly two hours away, and unfortunately there were no non-stop flights from there to Acapulco.  Instead we were forced to drive two hours to Vegas, then take a flight to Houston, TX and take a connecting flight from there to Acapulco.  Our flight out of Vegas also happened to be a red eye; it was the only one that would make the connecting flight out of Houston.  While many children will happily sleep through the car ride and subsequent flight, our son is not one of them.  He was wide awake on the drive to Vegas and ran gleefully through the airport as we waited to board the plane.  It wasn’t until we were finally in the air sometime around 2:00 AM that he finally sacked out.  Of course he woke up again when we landed in Texas a couple hours later.   

It was while we were waiting for our connecting flight in Houston that I first noticed the runny nose.  Having our son get sick while traveling internationally was one of my greatest fears…closely followed by getting kidnapped by drug lords and being arrested and thrown into a Mexican jail.  However, as it was just a little runny and our son was acting normally, I convinced myself it was only due to the change in altitude.  I was so very wrong.   

My husband and our sick little boy in out hotel room at the Grand Mayan Acapulco.

By the time we reached our hotel in Acapulco around 1:00 PM later that day, his runny nose had turned into a full-blown fever.  Of course, I panicked.  Though I had packed enough first-aid supplies to serve a small army, I didn’t have any antibiotics to treat him if it turned out to be something more than a cold.  Hoping that he would benefit from the warm, humid air, we took our son on a walk around the hotel to explore the grounds and amenities (see the article entitled “Acapulco-The Grand Mayan”).  When we reached one of the magnificent pools we sat down at a table to enjoy the ocean view.  As we sat there, a woman approached us.  She was visiting from Europe, she told us, and felt prompted to warn us about a strange new virus that had recently broken out in Mexico City.  “Don’t let anyone get near your son,” she said, “it’s very contagious.”  We thanked her for the information but couldn’t help feeling she was being rather dramatic.   

Photo courtesy of novinite.com

Later that evening we found that she wasn’t.  While searching the internet, my husband found the ‘strange virus’ she’d been talking about was none other than the Swine Flu.  Yep, we were there for the start of it all.  Of course it hadn’t reached its peak yet so the panic level was still relatively low, at least with most of the tourists.  My panic level however, quickly shot up a few more notches.  We put our son to bed and prayed he would be better the next morning.  But he wasn’t, he was worse when he woke up and I placed a call to our pediatrician.  Since our doctor wasn’t allowed to have prescriptions filled internationally, he told us to take our son to the resort doctor which we promptly did.  The doctor was quick to assure us it wasn’t the horrible flu going around but gave us a prescription anyway which we took the local Walmart to be filled.  

My husband and son waiting for the hotel to be cleared after the earthquake.

 

I was extremely anxious to get home at this point but the wedding was just a day away and then we’d be leaving the day after that.  The level of fear surrounding the Swine Flu was getting worse with each passing day though, as it claimed the lives of more and more people in Mexico City and the surrounding areas.  We watched the website of the U.S. Health Department but they were not yet encouraging tourists to return to the states.  They were however taking other precautions.  Anyone arriving in the U.S. from Mexico who appeared to have any symptoms of illness was being quarantined for up to three days to make sure they weren’t carrying the H1N1 virus.  We knew if we came home with our son in his current condition, we would be stopped and held until they could make sure he didn’t have it.  So we stayed but didn’t venture beyond the resort except to go to Walmart once again to pick up some more medication.  This time when we went in, all the workers and many of the customers were wearing masks to protect themselves.  My panic level was now off the charts.  When we climbed back into the cab to head back to the resort, I was literally counting the hours before we could go home.  I couldn’t see how things could get much worse.   

My little family on the beach in Acapulco.

 

But believe it or not, they did.  As we pulled up to our hotel, I noticed that the staff seemed to be in chaos.  One employee ran up to our cab driver and began talking so quickly in Spanish that I could no longer understand him.  My husband however could.  He turned to me with a strange half-smile and said, “seems there’s just been an earthquake.”  I stared at him in disbelief.  Riding along in the very worn-out back seat of a very old cab, across extremely uneven roads, we hadn’t felt the 5+ earthquake.  When we walked into the large, open-air lobby of the hotel though, it was obvious it had been a good one.  Furniture, decorations, and palm fronds from the thatched roof were strewn all over the floor and the hotel rooms were all off limits.   

We were herded out onto the lawn with the rest of the guests to wait for the hotel to be cleared before we could return to our room.  I was tremendously grateful that we hadn’t actually felt the earthquake.  Though my husband and I are originally from Southern California and are quite used to them, our son had never experienced one and I was pretty certain it would have been a scary experience for him.   

When we finally lifted off the runway on our flight home the next day, I nearly cried with joy.  Even my husband was thrilled to be leaving.  Though we managed to make it through the airport checkpoints and all the way back to Southern Utah without bringing home the Swine Flu, we did find that our son was suffering from a double ear infection.  He was a trooper though through the whole experience and is even smiling in all our family pictures.  However, I truly hope my husband has had his fill of ‘The Mother Land’ because I doubt flying horses could drag me back.  I’ve decided that with some destinations, once is enough!