The History of Acapulco

On February fifteenth, the fragile frigate Orue set out to sea, leaving behind It the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil. In land, the volcano Cotopaxi was in full eruption. All around, the great ocean stretched out toward infinity.
Diverted from its westward course, not only as a result of errors on its navigational charts but by a terrible storm, the frigate finally turned its prow -at about 16° 50’ North- toward Mexican shores, to which it arrived on the twentieth of March.

The appearance of the brave little boat on the imposing bay at first caused no stir among the four thousand blacks and half-breeds, the only inhabitants in the nearby village, until word spread of an extraordinary cargo, consisting of telescopes, theodolites, sextants, collections of plants and minerals, stuffed animals, mastodon bones, skins, rare caged birds . . .

The man in charge of this disconcerting baggage of scientific treasures was a circumspect German of 33, whose noble face displayed features as fine as they were lively. He was accompanied by a robust Frenchman of 30, tall and vigorous, and an Ecuadorian of 23 with quick, bright eyes. Together they contemplated the port which the German later described as “shaped like a giant shell carved from the cliffs”. He added: “I have visited few places in both hemispheres that present a more savage aspect, or that seem as romantic and lugubrious.” (He was to remember that always.)

It was a hot day, and luminous. The sky was clear, the sea calm and blue. In the background, green mountains. Aboard the frigate the Viceroy’s delegate inquired: “Your excellency, Don Frederick Henry Alexander, the Baron von Humboldt?” The German assented with a smile while he introduced his comrades: Aimé Bonpland, doctor of medicine and botanist by avocation (he was later to be held prisoner, for nine years, in Paraguay and would die in Argentina in 1858) and Carlos Montufar (in 1810, while strug-gling for his country’s independence, he would organize a Junta Superior for the new government but by the end of three months time the Spaniards would reward him before a firing squad and his heart would be burned in the main square of Quito).

As he invited them ashore the official envoy exclaimed: “Gentlemen, welcome to Acapulco” The year was 1803.