Healthy Influence Blog

I’ve wracked my brain for persuasion applications from my recent trip to Acapulco. Clearly, I’m getting old because nothing, but nothing, that is interesting, creative, or acceptable to the IRS springs to mind. From a business perspective the trip goes down as a total loss, an economic disaster, just money up in smoke. So, here’s some pictures.

Predinner drinks on the patio at the Pierre Marquez at dusk. Vodka Martini. Dry. With green olives. Straight up. And with a tip of the hat to James Bond, shaken, not stirred. The Pierre Marquez is part of the Fairmont group, so there’s a shuttle between it and the Princess. The Marquez is considerably smaller than the Princess and has a quieter feel.

A handsome stranger with an accent and a small child took our picture. This was his best shot. The other images show the effects of a 3 year old pulling on your leg. Everyone is friendly during happy hour at sunset in Acapulco. Of course, a vodka martini helps, too.

Melanie and I were also relatively rare Anglos on the beach. Most folks appeared to be Mexican or Central/South American. They all looked and acted like they lived in Overland Park, Kansas except they had better tans and spoke really good Spanish. iPods, cell phones, little kids with Gameboys, lots of Grandmamas. The global economy is interesting to watch. We’ve been going to Acapulco since 1981 and the positive improvements in Mexico are astounding over that time period. On our first visit the exchange rate was 25 pesos to the dollar. This time it was 10 to 1. Life is good in Mexico and getting better for more people all the time.

Dusk with palms, quiet beach, and pink sunset. You might consider the palm trees. Some have lights. Some don’t. They illustrate the ELM concept of elaboration. Perhaps there’s an IRS deduction in here after all? Wow, it just goes to show that if you keep working at it, you can come up with an excuse for about anything.

My girl gets wet in the afternoon Pacific. The sea was angry that day, my friend, except we’re in Mexico, and the sea was not angry. It was warm. The beach here is quite shallow out fifty or more feet. It creates marvelous currents.

Then she walks out where it’s deeper. I won’t let her go out farther because last time we were on this beach for our 25th wedding anniversary, she got caught in a riptide that started hauling her out to the big fishes. The tide caught me on the other side and I absolutely could not get to her. Fortunately a very tall man who was standing a few steps away from her eased over, grasped her hand, and brought her back to me. It was an interesting moment in our lives.

I found a baby sea turtle. The Acapulco Princess has a sea turtle baby farm on the beach near its sea wall. They hired an Expert who oversees the operation which consists of getting endangered sea turtle eggs from somewhere, sticking them in the sand like Easter eggs, then waiting until they hatch. At that point the Princess gathers all the WWF guests who stand in a straight line on the beach while the Expert puts the hatchlings on the beach. Everyone watches the little critters clamber to the sea. The eternal cycle . . . Of course, none of these little turtles have GPS and they get turned around a bit. Or else they like the home cooking at the Princess, so a few come back. Melanie took this one out to sea, past the major surf line, and put her in the ocean. The eternal cycle . . .

We bought three bottles of vanilla, a pair of cool cuff links, and a nice opal bracelet at this beach emporium. It’s called the Princess Cabana. If you’re there say “Hola” to George, Nacho, and Harvey Gomez Laredo. And wear sandals. The sand is hot like japaleno hot.

Mexican vanilla is to die for. The Food Police have not yet arrived south of the border. They serve cream with coffee and the cream is so brown with milk fat that it looks like it’s been seasoned with brown sugar. Don’t even ask about the bacon and ham. Try the Mexican coffee sometimes. I have a junkies sweet tooth (I still dream about cigarettes 25 years after my last one), but Mexican coffee needs no sugar or cream. And the butter . . .

Every husband has to play the fool on vacation. Here’s my clown shot. Melanie had been fumbling with the camera and I’d made some incredibly bright and clever joke about Phds, women, and technology. This is the only picture of my apology I care to share. If you think about it, this does have a persuasion application. It’s the Cascade!

The Princess stocks gorgeous and exotic animals on the property. We’ve already seen the endangered sea turtles (Global Warming and that damn George Bush), but when you stroll the grounds you’ll also see swans, peacocks, and flamingos. They seem to enjoy the Global Warming, so it appears that Mr. Bush giveth, too, while he taketh away.