Adventures into Mexican Markets, Part 4: Mega Feria

Today we visited the Mega Feria of Acapulco, which was actually held in Diamante at the Forum at the Mundo Imperial.  The Mundo is the same place where the Anarchapulco conference is being held this year, for any who aren't aware.  It's got several facilities within it, including the forum which is essentially a conference center. The Feria has been going on for 5 years in that location, from my understanding there used to be a Mega Feria somewhere in old town before this. This years dates are from December 23rd until January 7th, with a concert every night.  While its expensive for our budget, the 160 peso(7-8 dollars) cover charge that includes the daily concert isn't bad for an event of this size.

We waited until it was dark because the road that goes from Acapulco to Diamante, where the Feria is being held, was blocked by taxis in protest of the rising gas prices.  Gas is already pretty expensive here and it just jumped by 20 percent, seemingly over night.  I will say that I love that I live in a place where people still protest things like that and taxes and police. 

The start of the Feria experience kicks off at the ticket counter, not unlike most you see in the states.  As you'll read on that ticket, this was a ticketmaster event, no small little county fair.  They've been advertising this all over Acapulco for months at this point and from my understanding it's just gotten bigger and bigger every year.

The entrance after you got let in (they scan your ticket and give it back) there were several picturesque holiday scenes, most of them coke themed and many of them with Mexican families posing in front of them for photos. 

This guy was fantastic, selling spray painted masterpieces for 100 pesos each while making them in front of the crowd.  He got tips and was making sales.  I love that artists here are much more capitalistic than where I'm from.

(gandalf)

We ran into Gandalf in the entrance, as well.

(ent to build)

This was the way into the area where the actual feria was, which consisted of normal fair things for the most part, honestly.

This caught John's attention, he's always been a sucker for this specific car, and it happened to be in the entrance of this building.

For some reason there were these painted and costumed women posing for photos with people, so I took a few of them too.

This leads the way to the area of the vendors.

One of the most common food stands was hotcakes and skimos, literally pancakes and milkshakes from what I could tell.

There was a little section in the middle with this display, featuring an ornately decorated Guerrero for the state that I live in.

Half of the fair or more consisted of things catering to kids, from games to bounce houses to rides. 

Here, fruit stands with cut fresh fruit topped with hot sauce are a common street or fair food. 

There were typical venders selling everything from shoes to clothes to phone cases. We got some butane from there for our purposes, from the vender that sells the smoking products.  You can even buy drones here, there's a little something for everyone. We found out in our wandering that there's a zipline just on the edge of Acapulco, that I now really want to try.

This sign essentially pointed the way to the concert area and the rides.  This also included the games and most of the food area with very few vendors. 

I didn't go in but there was an exhibit you had to pay extra for that consisted of robotic dinosaurs.  Third world country my ass.

All sorts of rides, many that I had not seen before in the states, probably because they're illegal.

Probably my favorite thing I saw there, was a game where you paid 35 pesos to get to play with a small excavator and rocks.  Totally wouldn't fly in the states due to regulations, functions just fine here without them.  But who will build the roads? Badass mexican kids, that's who.

What appears to be a small pig roasting on display.

It wouldn't be a Mexican Feria without tacos, now would it?

There were at least 2 separate bumper car stations, and they all were packed.

Quite possibly the only free bathroom in Acapulco.  Something to note, especially for women, is that Mexico doesn't really have a lot of free public bathrooms.  There are plenty of public bathrooms, generally costing 5 pesos a visit.  Some are fancy and offer showers.  Restaurants will let a begging tourist use their restroom, although I generally just do my best to hold it. These were free, probably only because they were in the event.

There were three small sized coasters there, which was pretty cool all things considered.

A favorite Mexican treat is elote, literally corn on the cob served with everything from hotsauce to cheese, sometimes with sugar. There were at least 5 different vendors.

Another cool ride, little peddle boats for kids in a giant blowup pool. Would be so illegal in the states, works just fine here. American kids are generally too lazy for this sort of game. 

John mentioned he thought he had rode on the American version of this when he was a kid.

So there you have it, the Mega Feria of Acapulco....just outside of Acapulco! Like any fair, it's pricey but certainly not compared to American standards.  Any American would go to this fair and be shocked at what you get for the price.  There was a little something for everyone and I had fun while I was there.  It's always interesting to go to these events, which are just like fairs I'd been to my whole life, just with a Mexican twist. If you find yourself in town before the 7th(new people every day), check it out.  If not, try and make it to Acapulco for next years! Just an excuse to come here!