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| Taxis in Acapulco, Mexico |
Taxis in Acapulco
Taxis in Acapulco… think of swarm of locust, now replace locust with blue and white Volkswagens and you’ve got it.
I've heard from various sources around town that there are in excess of 6,000 taxis in Acapulco. That may not sound like a lot if we're talking about New York City, but when you consider that Acapulco really only has three major streets and an offical population of 600,000 to 800,000 people, that's a lot of taxis. At times it feels like every car in Acapulco is a blue and white Volkswagen.
Being a driver in Acapulco, and doing daily battle with these blue and white demonseeds, I submit that they're the world's most agressive drviers. I've seen some feates that qualify as extreme sports, well they're not all that bad, but some sure are.
The blue and white taxis are Acapulco's cheapests
To get a taxi, you hail them in the normal way (or even more likely they'll hail you - they seem to slow and honk anytime they see a foreigner actually walking).
If you don't speak Spanish, many will try to practice their English with you which once in a while is pretty good. If you speak Spanish, look out, you may be in for a conversation ranging from the weather to politics to the best places to the best strip clubs in town.
Prices are from $20 persos to $30 pesos during the day for points within the city proper. A night they can be about 50% higher or so. That doesn't include long hauls. One tip is to always agree on a price before you get in the taxi when market competition dictates the price (you can say no to high fares and send them on their way). If you don't agree ebfore hand, you're at their mercy (but they even with inflated prices, they really aren't too bad in the grand scheme of things about 50% or so - I was in Haiti during the summer 2003 and the taxis would try to raise the average price like 1000%!).
In 2004, Volkswagen shut down the last factory in the world that still made the beetle so 10 years from now Acapulco's going to be a very different place.
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| What's happening
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