Poza Rica

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Poza Rica

Official Name	Poza Rica de Hidalgo
Country - State: - Municipality	Mexico Veracruz Poza Rica de Hidalgo
Population (2005)	181 438 hab
Altitude	50 msl
Coordinates - Latitude: - Longitude:	20° 32' N 97° 27' W
Foundation - Foundation:	November 20, 1951
Mayor	Guadalupe Velásquez Casanova
Political party
Time zone:	UTC-6
Demonym	Pozarricense
Postal code	93261
Area code	782
Website: www.municipiopozarica.gob.mx

Poza Rica (formally: Poza Rica de Hidalgo) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Its name means "rich pool", because it was a place known by its abundance of fish; the city gradually grown out of oil well exploration and drilling activities.

It shares borders with the municipalities of Papantla, Tihuatlán, and Coatzintla, and stands on Federal Highway 180. The archaeological zone of El Tajín is located approximately 15km from Poza Rica. The area is intensely tropical, with two popular beaches within one hour, Tuxpan, and Tecolutla, and one within 40 minutes, Cazones. Mexico City is about 220 km from Poza Rica. Unlike most of Mexican cities, it does not have old buildings because it is a new city founded officially in Novembre 20th 1951. For that reason it has contemporary architecture with well-lined and designed streets with a modern look. While the petroleum industry features heavily amongst the industrial landscape in Poza Rica, the city also has a wide variety of other industries. As one of the largest and most populous cities in Veracruz, Poza Rica is an important industrial and commercial center, and central hub for several road transportation lines. The city has seen recently a lot of growth, with several commercial center opening around the city. The city had an official population of 174,512 inhabitants and the municipality had 181,438 at the census of 2005. However, the Poza Rica metropolitan area, which includes the municipalities of Papantla, Tihuatlán, and Coatzintla, showed a total population of 458,330.

[edit] Main Attractions

Poza Rica is geographically among the northern beaches of Veracruz, such as Tecolutla, Tuxpan, Cazones and Playa Esmeralda and because of its hotel and metropolitan infrastructure is convenient for staying in a comfortable city. "El Tajin", worldwide famous arhaeological zone is only to 15 km away. It has a downtown which provides a good shopping experience. It has a local famous height called "El cerro del abuelo" where it's possible to see the whole city and its "quemadores", big petroleum burners which were used to light the city in the early years. There are few of them at the present time. Every year there is a holiday called "Desfile del 18 de marzo" (March 18th Parade) which commemorates Mexican oil expropriation and has two beautiful parades, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is a city with a predominantly young population.

Mexico's only nuclear power plant (Laguna Verde) is about 200km away, near the state's capital city of Veracruz.