Spectator Sports

Bullfights are held December through April beginning at 5pm on Wednesday at the La Paloma bullring, across the highway from the town pier. Travel agencies can arrange tickets, which cost around $25 (£14).

A Spectacular Sight -- Performances of the Voladores de Papantla (Papantla Flyers) take place every day at 10 and 11am; and in the evenings, Friday to Wednesday at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30pm on the malecón, adjacent to the "Boy on a Seahorse" statue. In this pre-Columbian religious ritual, four men are suspended from the top of a tall pole, circling around it (as if in flight), while another beats a drum and plays a flute while balancing himself at the top. It signifies the four cardinal points, and the mystic "center" of the self, a sacred direction for ancient Mexican cultures.