How does the author describe the city of Acapulco in American Dirt?

The work alternates in its description of the city of Acapulco, Mexico, to emphasize that the city that was "once bright with tourists and music and the shops and the sea" is now "an eruption of violence between rival cartels" (50, 33). Acapulco is deteriorating under the oppression of cartel control and all in the city are victims. Residents fear going out due to violence, shop owners are subjected to fines, mordidas, and blood pervades the streets. As Sebastian so aptly notes, Acapulco experiences a "deep, wholesale decent into the maw of the warring cartels" (121). It is crucial to understand the insidious presence of the cartels in Acapulco, as well as Mexico, to understand Lydia's fears and motivation.