I had so many awesome ideas and images of Acapulco before I arrived; Loud shirts, cocktails, banana boats and a young Elvis diving off the cliffs. I hummed 'going loco down in Acapulco,' the entire bus journey up from Puerto Escondido.

The bus stopped at a polluted, dirty and very old looking bus station which I presumed would be the last stop to pick up party-goers on the way to Acapulco. It was only when the bus emptied completely I realised this was Acapulco.

I remained optimistic, I wasn't planning on hanging about near the bus station anyway so I didn't really mind if it was a state. A ten minute walk took me to the main strip which follows the bay but I still hadn't seen a sign of Elvis, the rat pack. There wasn't even a loud shirt in sight.

The main street was extremely seedy looking and very expensive so I started walking down some side streets looking for a hotel. Eventually I found a reasonable, if maybe a little dodgy looking, a ten minute walk from the beach. I wasn't able to pick up any Western Union money until the next day so had to give the owner my £3 casio rip-off watch I had picked up in a market in Guatemala for as collateral in case I didn't pay.

After dumping my bag I went exploring only to discover that I was after all hanging around near the bus station which was a tad depressing. I hadn't completely given up on my idea of Acapulco and thought it might all come to life at night. I was mistaken. Night was even seedier and everywhere was dead. I was extremely surprised at the lack of gringos and tourists. The amount of places to eat and drink showed that at one time Acapulco was party central but it's day had certainly passed.

One of the reasons for it's decline was apparently the drug war that was in full swing in the city. Just 2 months before I arrived the heads of 2 policemen had washed up in the bay and this was scarily not a one-off incident. By my second night in the city I had had enough of Acapulco so spent the evening going to the cinema...twice.

I booked a bus the following morning and passed the time before it left at a quieter part of the bay. It was here that I was able to see for the first time why Acapulco had ever been so popular. It was a less built up part of town and had a fantastic view of the bay. Though it was a new-found high for my time in Acapulco it was time to head North again to yet another beach in zehuatanejo (the town made famous for being where Andy and Red end up in The Shawshank Redemption.)