Hustling in Acapulco
Friday, January 16th, 2009Acapulco Cliff Diver

I was in Acapulco for a few days already, and I was getting itchy. I just broke up with my new, Mexican girlfriend, and I had nothing to do.
I met the girl in Oaxaca, Mexico and we traveled together to Acapulco. She treated me really nice while we were on the road, going from one small town to another. But once in Acapulco, she turned cold on me because I interacted with other Americans. One day I wanted to order pizza to eat. She really got upset and went ballistic on me. She screamed out she wants to eat Mexican food not Greengo food and went to slap me. I caught her hand and slapped her. That was a bad move.
She called the police on me and I got arrested. They brought me, together with her to a local police station. They put me in a small cell with other guys. Luckily I spoke some Spanish, so I was able to converse with them. They were telling me, I would be locked up for years for hitting a woman. I knew they were just trying to extort money from me. I said she is my girlfriend and we just had a fight. They tried to play hard nose, but I did not cave in. Eventually they said give them dinero – money. I said I do not have any. They relented, “Just give us money to put your girlfriend on a bus back home to Oaxaca.” I agreed. I gave them 20 usd and they let me out of the cell.
I was happy to get away clean from the cops. I was a bit of a bad boy then. I use to smuggle American goods over the border from San Diego to Mazatlan. I also traded currency, buying dollars from tourists and selling pesos to Mexican gold shops. I figured I would try trading money in Acapulco as well. There were many tourists hanging around the beech. I first tried in hotel lobbies. I approached the tourists and asked them if they wanted to change their dollars into pesos. They thought I wanted to buy pesos and sent me to an exchange house. I tried telling them, I will give them better rate than an exchange house, but it was a hard sell. After a few attempts hotel security guards came by and asked me to leave.
Changing money for tourists worked fine in Mazatlan, but it was a bit more difficult in Acapulco. In Mazatlan there were not many exchange houses, and security was a bit lax, so I had no problem approaching the tourists. I was honest, and offered better rates than exchange house, but it was hard to get people to trust you with their money. Thrown out of a few hotels I went to hustle the beach. There were not many tourists laying around on the beach, and the ones who were there, were not interested in changing money.
Still, I did not give up and continued to walk the beach. I was a bit tired from walking under the hot sun, and there was a really good-looking Senorita hanging out. I decided to take a break and say hello to her. I just said, “Acapulco is really nice!” She agreed and our conversation started. She told me her name is Maria and she was staying with her aunt up on the hill. We talked about funny things and got to know each other. I proposed to rent a car and drive around. She agreed. We got off the beach and rented a car.
We rented a Volkswagen convertible. My new friend Maria had long red hair, and as we drove the hair danced in the wind. We went up the cliffs and visited a villa for lunch. The villa grounds where sparsely laid out, and the house were white. We went to the pool restaurant to have lunch. The pool overlooked the bay, and waves were rolling and rippling onto the surrounding rocks. It was a magnificent look of the water.
We set down on the soft cabana chairs and ordered a dozen of huge oysters and a bottle of Champagne. I wanted to impress the girl. The oysters were delicious. They slid down your throat. It felt better than sex. The waiter came around and asked us for our room number. We were not staying there, but I figured why not try to be smart. I said my room is 405 and signed it as Frank. The waiter went away but I felt he was watching us. I said to Maria, let’s go. She quickly got up and followed me. We quickly got into the car and drove pass the security gate. We were out of the place and laughing like two children. She knew I skipped the bill, but she did not care. She kind of, like me, enjoyed the frill and excitement. We got away clean.
Our next stop was the Acapulco cliff divers. We pulled up to the rocks and got out of the car. There was a slim tan good-looking guy ready to jump off 100 feet cliff into the churning green waters bellow. One, Two Three, he ran back a few meters and catapulted forward into the abyss with his hands extended forward. It was a beautiful somersault and he disappeared into the waters bellow. Oh, what a spectacle. I would not even dream of trying something like that. It is so easy to hit the rocks bellow and crash to your death.
Back in the car, we drove down the cliffs road to the beach. At the beach, we saw a small island not too far away. We tried to hire a fisherman with a wooden boat to take us to the island for a few hours. He would need to wait for us and bring us back. He would not agree to wait for us. We gave up. I do not know why, maybe it was the oysters but I was horny as hell. I took Maria behind the rocks, on the side of the beach. We started kissing like crazy. We were both wearing shorts, and I found it no problem penetrating her. We went down on the sand and made passionate love. At on point a few Mexican Federales came around and started watching us. They were giggling and pointing fingers at us. I did not pay attention to the Mexican police and kept making love to Maria.
After we finished making love I drove Maria to el Bario. She hung out with me for a while but would not invite me to her aunt’s house. I guess the Mexicans are ashamed if they have a relationship with an American or another westerner. I said goodbye to her and returned the car back to the car rental shop. With nothing to do I strolled around the beach. I helped the local fisherman pull in a net of fish. It was really hard work. A boat went out and dropped the net into deep, and people on the beach had to pull it in. The life of a Marinero!
After a few days lingering on the beach, I decided to try the money exchange thing one more time. I got an idea, why not got to the airport and see if I can buy Mexican Pesos from tourists leaving Mexico. I took a bus to the airport and went over into the gate area. There were no exchange houses there, and I had no problems buying Mexican Pesos from the departing tourists. I had a big wad of Dollars in my hands and was buying lots of money at a good exchange rate. Shit, all of a sudden a few policemen came to me. They grabbed my money from me and dragged me to a room.
They kept screaming at me, and saying where did I get the money and why am I at the airport. All together I had a few thousand dollars on me. I told them that I needed Mexican money and was buying it from the leaving tourists. I said, I did not know that I could not do it. Right away I requested to call my Israeli Embassy. They would not let me make a phone call but kept intimidating me. They said I must go with them to a central police station. They put me in the car and drove around the airport a few times. Then they stopped and said get out. I cried, “Give me my money or let me call my embassy!” After a few minutes of negotiation they gave me back my money. They asked me for a few dollars for cerveza – beer. I said no and left the car.
Hustling in Acapulco was adventures and fun. I put my ass on the line and got away with a lot of shit. Looking back at it, my nerves begin to shake. It was dangerous and dumb!







































