So, in a nutshell, Mexico and Spain fought a war of Independence, and 198 years later, I moved to Mexico. Woo! And, for my first Mexican Independence day I decided to leave the big city behind and head to the beach. Acapulco is the nearest beach to Mexico City, so off we went.

Some people would fly to Acapulco. It takes 45 mins from here, and is quite a civilised way to travel. Not us. We took the Autopista del Sol (Highway to the Sun) which should take 4 - 5 hours, but of course took us longer (think 6.5 hours) because of the long-weekend traffic. Mexico doesn't really do trains, but the busses are as comfy as busses can be. Included in our 700 pesos (£35) return trip, we got a drink and a snack (no veggie sandwich, and Japanese peanuts...I do not know what made them Japanese) and 3 films each way. Yes, films. Think Casino Royale. Think The Cheetah Girls 2! Think a Tom Hanks film from the early 80s!! No one can say we don't know how to travel in style...

The bay and the beach are two of the main reasons people head to Acapulco, though I think it's a little more the former than the latter. I have been to many beautiful Mexican beaches, and Acapulco does not make the list for me. I did not go at the best time of year, perhaps, as the water quality was not brilliant - stretching out my legs while I floated I could tell I had a feet, but not count the toes on them, for example. This is a stark contrast to the likes of Xpu-Ha where the waters are crystal clear. The beach is also not that pretty - just your regular sand and shell combo that could be anywhere in Europe, even St Annes. The beaches were not crowded though. Although people walk up and down it every few seconds offering you massages, quesadillas and silver so shiny you know it will turn your skin green, it is largely a peaceful place.

One day we also went to Pie de la Cuesta which is supposed to be a prettier and quieter beach than Acapulco bay's sandy area. Relying on two guidebooks (a German thing, plus my trusty DK Eyewitness) we firmly believed this trip by bus would take us 25 mins. It took over an hour, and when we got there we quickly realised that the place was over hyped too. Yes, it was pretty, but not travel-an-hour-on-bumpy-bus pretty. It was also empty, which on the one hand is good, but on the other hand sucks a little when you need somewhere to buy an ice cream, or to shelter from the storm. If you must, the busses leave from in front of the 100% Natural opposite Sanborns near the Zócalo.

We arrived into Acapulco on a rainy Saturday afternoon. On Sunday it was cold and windy in the morning, and rainy all afternoon. How delightfully fun. I had told my (Mexican) students to prepare to compare tans when we all returned from our respective breaks, so things were not going to plan. On Sunday I gave up the idea of the beach and went to the shopping mall instead. Acapulco has many of these, mainly along La Costera, the main coast road. This is in contrast to Playa del Carmen which has very little in the way of proper shopping. After a mooch around, I ended up at the cinema, watching, ahem, Mamma Mia (despite one of my students' protests that "the only people in Mexico who like Abba are transvestites"). There are at least 3 Cinepolis cinemas in Acapulco, and compared to the UK they are dirt cheap - this was an "expensive" show (weekend, early evening) and it cost 51 pesos, or about £2.50.

The main celebration here is the night before Independence day, i.e. the night of Monday 15th September. On this night in Zócalos across the country, crowds gather to hear the Grito (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grito_de_Dolores ) and to celebrate with a fiesta. And, also, try not to get blown up (there was a small terrorist attack in one of the Zócalos this year...we're all still trying to work out who on earth the terrorists are in Mexico, and why drug dealing, kidnapping and corruption in general don't provide enough opportunities for baddies to get their fill of badness). So, we went to the Zócalo on Acapulco for a few hours of partying Mexico style. The central square had been transformed by dozens of stalls selling food and drinks, and offering face painting and balloons (Sponge Bob Square Pants is still a favourite here). They had a few small fairground rides (including a carousel the owner had to push round) and some games, the most popular of which was bizarrely Bingo. It was a great atmosphere, and sounds a whole lot better than the massive ram of people in D.F.'s Zócalo. The next day, all was quiet. The beach was no busier than the day before, and all the shops and restaurants were open.

Being a well established tourist resort, popular with Americans, Brits and Germans as well as city-living Mexicans, Acapulco has all manner of places to eat and drink. We favoured the California Buffet Restaurant and Sanborns, for breakfast and dinner, though there were many other options. 100% Natural is a popular health food chain, with a lot of vegetarian options. There were also dozens of small Mexican places serving tacos, but few of these places offered non-meat options. On the small bit of La Costera near us we had our pick of 3 different ice cream chains, and every other shop on there seems to be an Oxxo (a local equivalent to 7eleven) which meant tortilla chips, drinks and cereal, among other things, were never far away.

My trip to Acapulco was somewhat marred by the crappy weather - out of 3 days, we had barely 1 ½ days of sun - but it seemed like an ok enough place if a little lacking in character. Having previously criticised Playa and the Mayan Riviera I think it's time to bite my tongue because compared to there Acapulco seems nothing. Yes, it was a nice place to visit once, but then so was Oldham. I don't think I'll be running back in a hurry, and if you were thinking of crossing an ocean to get to Mexico I would recommend a number of places ahead of this, but we did enjoy our first Mexican Independence Day here, all things considered.