But some things never change, and that's to be grateful for. The La Quebrada cliff divers still thrill with their death-defying plunges into the sea from heights that make onlookers gasp. The best place to take in this decades-old spectacle is from the terrace of the restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Las Glorias El Mirador. The Mexican-tiled eatery is studded with photos of the rich and famous from decades past, including a very young Julio Iglesias, who dropped in for the same exhibition. Five times daily, buffed young men scale the sheer cliff wall of a narrow inlet to ready themselves for the heart-stopping dive.
Observers watch nervously, hoping their ability to judge distance is fine-tuned.
Each 136-foot dive goes off without a glitch. I celebrated by polishing off my beer and breathing again. For more local color, you can head to the home of Dolores Olmedo, the lifelong friend of the world-renowned painter Diego Rivera. The artist is considered Mexico's greatest muralist of the 20th century and his most distinguished and massive work chronicling the history of Mexico is in the National Palace in Mexico City. Rivera decorated the exterior of Olmedo's house with thousands of tiles, shells and stones in an elaborate mosaic depicting Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent Aztec god.