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I had long considered Acapulco a tired "Elvis" sort of place, the kitschy kind of tourist trap that was once featured in Elvis movies. A place where even the best hotels were close but "sin cigaro." Acapulco had lost its luster as the Mexican Riviera where Jack and Jackie, Bill and Hillary and Elizabeth and I forgot whom honeymooned.

But I hadn't been there in 15 years.

About 15 years ago I was in Acapulco making a video. It was a big celebration. The president of Mexico was there and so was a crew from Mexican television. Unfortunately, like a lot of other things in Acapulco at the time, their camera was broken. So this guy runs up behind me with a cord yelling enchufa enchufa! He plugs the cable into the back of my camera and presto, I am an instant correspondent for a Televisa. As I lugged my 30 pound of gear around, three amigos followed me carrying the chord.

The performance was wonderful but I couldn't get out of the place fast enough.

My taxi driver ploughed through a herd of cattle to get me to the airport. We barely made it time. My videotape went off on another flight and even after I got home, I received a midnight visit from Montezuma.

Acapulco now, however, is doing a splendid job of remaking itself. Hotels are getting facelifts and there are new attractions

There is even a Costco in case you crave a 40 kilo vat of guacamole.

My wife and I stayed at the Acapulco Princess, a 1,000-plus room colossus, the kind of hotel I would normally not be attracted to. I can't tell you how impressed I was with the service, food and attitude. This is not the old Acapulco. Manana is not operative here. Room service and housekeeping responded in minutes. The restaurants were excellent with cuisine containing just the right amount of picante without being dumbed down for tourists as is the food in many big hotels. Even our housekeepers bade us farewell when we left, addressing us as her "ninos."

While the food at the Galvez Club, off of Acapulco's main drag, wasn't quite as good , the setting is a museum. It is located within El Fuerte Del Virrey a Mexican civil war fort. It is a fine example of integrating architectural heritage with modern use.

Granted, Acapulco is not for enrichment travel, its cultural attractions are few. But if you want to spend some relaxing days around the pool, Acapulco is a good thing.

And, if you want to party into the night,.it's a good thing too… way into the night. Dinner usually starts around 9 P.M. and the dancing starts at 11. Some of the discos are mammoth. The Palladium even offers fireworks.

Slug that I am, however, this is the kind of getaway I like to do at least once a year…go to warm climate spot like Acapulco and allow my natural urges ( falling asleep in the middle of the day and drinking tall glasses of stuff with parasols in them) exercise themselves without guilt.

I also get a lot of reading in. If you understand Spanish, read the Mexico City newspapers such as Excelsior. I have always found it remarkable that we in the US, who allegedly champion freedom of the press, are stuck with such brain-dead fishwraps. While our front pages shout the violent, the scandalous and the bizarre, Excelsior led with political commentary from scholars in Mexico and abroad and international news including stuff from atin America we never hear about. The celebrity news and personal tragedies were relegated to an inside page with the classifieds…where I discovered that I could buy
A prefab log cabin, shipped directly from Canada. Delivered personally by a Mountie, no doubt.

One little warning about the Mexico City Airport. When I went through there was ONE LINE at immigration. It could take an hour to clear and you might miss your connection. A friend later told me that he slipped a $5 dollar bill to one of the men guiding the line and got taken care of immediately. Another simply pleaded that she would miss her connection and moved up to the head of the line.

Also, I speak some Spanish, even so, nobody could give me a straight answer as to what gate our plane was leaving from and there were very few onitors. They assertively pointed me toward a but when I got there, it was wrong. Even with the hassle however, Acapulco, 15 years later, was worth it.