BEST ART: 2011

Acapulco

Acapulco (officially known as Acapulco de Juárez) is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States. The city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo and as well, Mexico's largest beach and balneario resorted city.
The city is best known as one of Mexico’s oldest and most well-known beach resorts, which came into prominence by the 1950s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco is still famous for its nightlife and still attracts many vacationers, although most are now from Mexico itself. The resort area is divided into two: The north end of the bay is the “traditional” area, where the famous in the mid 20th century vacationed and the south end is dominated by newer luxury high rise hotels.
The name "Acapulco" comes from Nahuatl language Aca-pōl-co, and means "At the big reeds" or “At the broken reeds.” “de Juárez” was added to the official name in 1885 to honor Benito Juárez, the former president of Mexico. The seal for the city shows broken reeds or cane.

Acapulco Beach:

Beauty Sunset in Acapulco beach

Sunset in Acapulco beach

Many couples like to follow up the sunset beach ceremony and dinner,

Attractions

Acapulco’s main attraction is its nightlife, and has been for many decades. Nightclubs change names and owners frequently but there are generalities. Cover charges vary but are almost always higher for men than women, and most clubs are not in operation until after 11pm. Most of the action happens after midnight and goes until to at least four or five in the morning. The high-rise hotels have their own bars and sometimes dance clubs. Informal lobby or poolside cocktail bars often offer free live entertainment. In addition, there is the beach bar zone, where younger crowds go. These are located along the Costera road, face the ocean and feature techno or alternative rock. Most are concentrated between the Fiesta Americana and Continental Plaza hotels. These places tend to open earlier and have more informal dress. There is also a bungee jump in this area as well.

La Quebrada Cliff Divers.

Another enigmatic attraction at Acapulco are the La Quebrada Cliff Divers. The tradition started in the 1930s when young men casually competed against each other to see who could dive from the highest point into the sea below. Eventually, locals began to ask for tips for those coming to see the men dive. Today the divers are professionals, diving from heights of forty meters into an inlet that is only seven meters wide and four meters deep, after praying first at a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. On 12 December, the feast day of this Virgin, freestyle cliff divers jump into the sea to honor her. Dives ranges from the simple to the complicated and end with the “Ocean of Fire” when the sea is lit with gasoline, making a circle of flames which the diver aims for. The spectacle can be seen from a public area, which charges a small fee or from the Hotel Plaza Las Glorias/El Mirador from its bar or restaurant terrace.

There are a number of beaches in the Acapulco Bay and the immediate coastline. In the bay proper there are the La Angosta (in the Quebrada), Caleta, Caletilla, Dominguillo, Tlacopanocha, Hornos, Hornitos, Honda, Tamarindo, Condesa, Guitarrón, Icacos, Playuela, Playuelilla and Playa del Secreto. In the adjoining, smaller Bay of Puerto Marqués there is Pichilingue, Las Brisas, and Playa Roqueta. Facing open ocean just northwest of the bays is Pie de la Cuesta and southeast are Playa Revolcadero, Playa Aeromar, Playa Encantada and Barra Vieja. Two lagoons are in the area, Coyuca to the northwest of Acapulco Bay and Tres Palos to the southeast. Both lagoons have mangroves and offer boat tours. Tres Palos also has sea turtle nesting areas which are protected.

In addition to sunbathing, the beaches around the bay offer a number of services, such as boat rentals, boat tours, horseback riding, scuba diving and other aquatic sports. One popular cruise is from Caletilla Beach to Roqueta Island, which has places to snorkel, have lunch, a small zoo and a lighthouse. There is also an underwater statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe here, created in 1958 by Armando Quesado in memory of a group of divers that died here. Many of the scuba diving tours come to this area as well, where there are sunken ships, sea mountains, and cave rock formations. Another popular activity is deep sea fishing. The major attraction is sail fishing. Fish caught here have weighed between 89 and 200 pounds. Sailfish are so plentiful that boat captains have been known to bet with a potential customer that if he does not catch anything the trip is free.

In the old part of the city, there is a traditional main square called the Zócalo with shade trees and lined with cafes and shops. At the north end of the Nuestra Señora de la Soledad cathedral, with blue onion-shaped domes and Byzantine towers. The building was originally constructed as a movie set, but when was later adapted into a church.Acapulco’s most historic building is the San Diego Fort, located east of the main square and originally built in 1616 to protect the city from pirate attacks.The fort was partially destroyed by the Dutch in the mid 17th century, rebuilt, then destroyed again in 1776 by an earthquake. It was rebuilt again by 1783 and this is the building that can be seen today, unchanged except for renovations done to it in 2000. Parts of the moats remain as well as the five bulwarks and the battlements. Today the fort serves as the Museo Histórico de Acapulco (Acapulco Historical Museum), which shows the port’s history from the pre-Hispanic period until independence. There are also temporary exhibits as well.

Tlacopanocha, or Tlaco de Panocha, is one of the city's main beaches

The Centro Internacional de Convivencia Infantial or CICI is a sea life and aquatic park located on Costera Aleman. It offers wave pools, water slides and water toboggans. There are also dolphin shows daily and a swim with dolphins program. The center mostly caters to children.Another place popular with children is the Parque Papagayo which is a large family park which has life-sized replicas of a Spanish galleon and the space shuttle Columbia, three artificial lakes, aviary, skating rink, rides, go-karts and more.

The Dolores Olmedo House is located in the traditional downtown of Acapulco and is noted for the murals by Diego Rivera that adorn it. Olmedo and Rivera had been friend since Olmedo was a child and Rivera spent the last two years of his life here. During that time, he painted nearly nonstop and created the outside walls with tile mosaics, featuring Aztec deities such as Quetzalcoatl. The interior of the home is covered in murals. The home is not a museum, so only the outside murals are able to be seen by the public.

There is a small museum called Casa de la Máscara (House of Masks) which is dedicated to masks, most of them from Mexico but there are examples from many parts of the world. The collection contains about one thousand examples and are divided into seven rooms called Masks of the World, Mexico across History, The Huichols and the Jaguar, Alebrijes and Dances of Guerrero, Devils and Death, Identity and Fantasy, and Afro-Indian masks. The Botanical Garden of Acapulco is a tropical garden located on lands owned by the Universidad Loyola del Pacifico. Most of the plants here are native to the region, and many are in danger of extinction, such as the Peltogyne mexicana or purple stick tree.

The annual French Festival takes place throughout Acapulco city and offers a multitude of events that cement cultural links between Mexico and France. The main features are a fashion show and gourmet food fair. The Cinépolis Galerías Diana and the Teatro Juan Ruíz de Alarcón show French and French literary figures give talks on their specialised subjects. Even some of the local nightclubs will feature French DJs.Other festivals celebrated here include Carnival, the feast of San Isidro Labrador on 15 May and a crafts and livestock fair called the Nao de China in November.

There are a number of golf courses in Acapulco including the Acapulco Princess and the Pierre Marqués course, the latter designed byRobert Trent Jones in 1972 for the World Cup Golf Tournament. The Mayan Palace course was designed by Pedro Guericia and an economical course called the Club de Golf Acapulco is near the convention center. The most exclusive course is that of the Tres Vidas Golf Club, designed by Robert von Hagge. It is located next to the ocean and is home to flocks of ducks and other birds.

Acapulco also has a bullring, called the Plaza de Toros, near Caletilla Beach. The season runs during the winter and is called the Fiesta Brava.

Acapulco Nihgtlife:

loving mandara and my girls

SILVER AND LOVING IT. i want silver babies.

Acapulco Party Girls

Spring break

Over 100,000 American teenagers and young adults travel to resort areas and balnearios throughout Mexico over spring break each year.The main reason students head to Mexico is the 18 year old drinking age (versus 21 for the United States), something that has been marketed by tour operators along with the sun and ocean. This has become attractive since the 1990s, especially since more traditional spring break places such as Daytona Beach, Florida have become restrictive on drinking and other behaviors. This has pushed spring break visitation to various parts of Mexico, with Acapulco as one of the top destinations.

Palladium nightclub.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Cancún had been favored at the spring break destination of choice. However, Cancun has taken some steps to control the reckless behavior associated with the event, and students have been looking for someplace new. This has led many more to choose Acapulco, in spite of the fact that the flight is longer and more expensive than to Cancun for many travelers. Many are attracted by the glitzy hotels on the south side and Acapulco’s famous nightlife.In 2008, 22,500 students came to Acapulco for spring break. Hotels did not get that many in 2009, mostly due to the economic situation in the United States,and partially because of scares of drug-related violence. MTV will transmit special programming from Acapulco in 2010.

In February 2009, the US State Department issued a travel alert directed at college students planning spring break trips to Acapulco.The warning—a result of violent activity springing from Mexico's drug cartel debacle—took college campuses by storm, with some schools going so far as to warn their students about the risks of travel to Mexico over spring break. The New York Times tracked the travels of another Penn student on spring break in Acapulco just a week after the dissemination of the email, while Bill O'Reilly devoted a segment of his show, The O'Reilly Factor, to urge students to stay away from Acapulco.In June 2009 a number of incidents occurred between the drug cartel and the government. These included coordinated attacks on police headquarters and open battles in the streets involving large-caliber weapons and grenades. However, no incidents of violence against spring breakers were reported.

Transportation

Juan N. Álvarez International Airport.

From the U.S., many airlines now fly to Acapulco Airport year-round. While in the city, there are many buses and taxi services one can take to get from place to place, but most of the locals choose to walk to their destinations. However, an important mode of transportation is the government subsidized 'Colectivo' cab system. These cabs cost 10 pesos per person to ride, but they are not private. The driver will pick up more passengers as long as seats are available, and will transport them to their destination based on first come first served rules. The colectivos each travel a designated area of the city, the three main ones being Costera, Colosio, Coloso, or a mixture of the three. Coloso cabs mainly travel to old Acapulco. Colosio cabs travel through most of the tourist area of Acapulco. Costera cabs drive up and down the coast of Acapulco, which is where most of the hotels for visitors are, but also includes some of old Acapulco. Where a driver will take you is partly up to his choice. Some are willing to travel to the other designated areas, especially during slow periods of the day.

The bus system is highly complex, and can be rather confusing to an outsider. As far as transportation goes, it is the cheapest form other than walking in Acapulco. The most expensive buses have air conditioning, while the cheaper buses do not. For tourists, the Acapulco city government has established a system of yellow buses with Acapulco! painted on the side of them. These buses are not for tourists only, but are certainly the nicest and most uniform of the bus systems. These buses travel the tourist section of Acapulco, driving up and down the coast. There are buses with specific routes and destinations, generally written on their windshields or shouted out by a barker riding in the front seat. Perhaps the most unusual thing about the privately operated buses is the fact that they are all highly decorated and personalized, with decaling and home made interior designs that range from comic book scenes, to adult themes, and even to "Hello Kitty" themes.