"Many sets of stairs which everyone can use to get up and down to our fantastic beaches." That line comes from a list of Tom Swale's legacy that the Amapas Neighborhood Association published through Banderas News in June 2018. The same list includes "a highway sidewalk." Eight years later, both pieces are still the walk most of upper Amapas uses to get down to Zona Romántica. During Día de Muertos week, both have something to do with remembrance.
The stairs carry the holiday's imagery in paint. The sidewalk carries the name of the neighbor who pushed it into existence. Neighbors paid for both, and the association still maintains both. This week, the walk from your door to Los Muertos Beach and back works a little like an ofrenda in the open air.
The stairs that became the main way down
According to an April 2023 notice from the Amapas Neighborhood Association, known as ANA, the Abedul stairs sit between Brisas del Mar and La Terraza. Nearby pedestrian and vehicle routes had closed, so the stairs became "the primary route for pedestrians traveling from upper Amapas, Conchas Chinas and the highway down to their favorite Zona Romántica restaurants and beach clubs." ANA said the stairway "draws hundreds of people daily."
At that point the steps, railings and lighting had all worn down. ANA called the rebuild its most ambitious project yet and put the cost at $50,000 USD, which it described as nearly a million pesos. The fundraising beat that number. ANA's project page says the early-2023 campaign raised more than $1.3 million pesos. That paid for the repairs, which were done in partnership with a local university.
Paint came next. Later phases, paid for with more donations, added murals by artist Danyol León along the main stairway. ANA's May 2024 update introduced him as "Danyol León, AKA Tamale Ringwald" and named the project "Amapas Ascent: Stairway Stories." Out and About PV reported in April 2024 that the mural work would begin April 6.
Five murals that belong to this week
The Amapas Ascent page lists 22 icons. They run from a jaguar and a xoloitzcuintle to the Matamoros lighthouse and a sleeping fennec fox. Most of them aren't seasonal. Five carry the imagery of Día de Muertos, and the descriptions ANA wrote for them read like a short field guide to the holiday:
- La Mariposa / Butterfly. ANA's text says the monarch has long been revered by Indigenous forest communities in central Mexico as a carrier of ancestors' souls. Its migration from Canada and the United States is described as the return of departed loved ones who come back "to visit the living during Día de los Muertos."
- El Cráneo Cactus / Cactus Skull. The description ties a skull, "often a representation of departed souls," to the founding vision of Tenochtitlán: an eagle perched on a cactus, devouring a serpent.
- La flor de Cempasúchil / Marigold. The name comes from the Nahuatl "Cempohualxochitl," which means "twenty flowers." ANA notes that marigolds are often called "flowers of the dead," believed to guide spirits home, and are placed on altars and tombs beside candles, photographs and favorite foods.
- Maceta con forma de calavera / Skull Flower Pot. This one shows a bloom growing out of a hollow skull. ANA frames it as renewal growing from an ending.
- El Esqueleto / Skeleton. The text says Día de Muertos "encourages us to remember and honor what we have done in life." It presents the flower-adorned skeleton as a way to cope with grief and keep memories close.
Every description on the project page is in both Spanish and English. On the stairs themselves, ANA put QR codes along the way, and each one links to the story of the icon in front of you. That makes the stairs an easy and specific walk for visiting family this week. You can stop at the monarch and the marigold, scan the codes, and keep going down toward the city's Día de Muertos programming south of the Río Cuale.
The walk back up has a name
The route home along the coastal road is the sidewalk on Highway 200, which is older than the stair murals.
In March 2018, Banderas News published an ANA update describing a new sidewalk running "from Conchas Chinas to the Oxxo & Subway at the corner of Pulpito." ANA had sponsored and organized it in collaboration with City Hall. The two split the work. ANA kept the money in a separate fund, bought the materials and supervised the project, and City Hall supplied the labor.
The last 300 meters needed two storm drains, support structures, a wall and safety railings, estimated at $500,000 pesos. To pay for it, ANA asked neighbors to "adopt" a meter of sidewalk for $1,750 pesos. Adopting five meters earned a tile plaque on the wall at the end of the sidewalk.
Swale, remembered in that same 2018 tribute as "Mr. Amapas," served as ANA's president. Today the association calls the route the Tom Swale Memorial Walkway, or Paseo Conmemorativo Tom Swale in its Spanish notices.
The newest change is at night. ANA reported on January 28, 2026 that the municipal government had finished installing new lighting along Highway 200 serving the walkway. ANA paid for it, and the stated goal was better visibility and safety "for the thousands of residents and visitors who use the pathway day and night." Neighbors paid and the city installed, the same split as in 2018. It also means this is the first Día de Muertos season with the new lights in place for an after-dinner walk home from Zona Romántica.
The plaque tradition is still going. Near the bottom of the walkway, ANA held its Second Saturday Cleanup on September 12, 2026 at the ANA Memorial Wall next to OXXO. The association said 20 community members had paid for new plaques, and volunteers were invited to repaint the area.
Who built which piece
| Segment | What it connects | Who paid, who built | Latest change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abedul stairs | Upper Amapas, Conchas Chinas and the highway down to Zona Romántica | ANA fundraising of more than $1.3 million pesos in early 2023, with a local university as partner | Murals by Danyol León, started April 2024 |
| Tom Swale Memorial Walkway | Highway 200 from Conchas Chinas to the OXXO at Púlpito | ANA funds and materials, City Hall labor | ANA-funded lighting completed January 2026 |
| ANA Memorial Wall | Next to OXXO | Plaques paid for by 20 community members | Repainting cleanup on September 12, 2026 |
What is still on the work list
The murals are two and a half years old now, and some are showing it. In its September 9, 2026 board minutes, which were approved October 7, ANA lists "Amapas Ascent mural damage / repairs" as an open item. Signs have been ordered, and Tamale and ANA's Will are to coordinate installing them and scoping repairs to the damaged murals. An earlier action item to reprint damaged QR codes and the project story on the recognition wall is marked closed.
The same minutes rank the association's Road to Safety priorities in this order:
- Topes and crosswalks
- Access stairs
- The Púlpito/Mirador pathway
- An emergency evacuation plan
- Road repairs
ANA's Road to Safety page adds a planned rehabilitation of the Los Pinos stairs, described as a safer pedestrian connection between Amapas Beach and Los Muertos Beach. Stairs are second on the list, ahead of road repairs. That puts the walking routes close to the top of the association's current agenda.
Where to meet the people who keep the route up
The calendar for the next few weeks is mostly social, and every event is open to neighbors:
- October 28, 4:30 p.m.: ANA's October Social Mixer at The Tunnel Bar, Basilio Badillo 447a.
- November 13 to 30: ANA's Buen Fin Membership Sale, which rolls Buen Fin, Black Friday and Cyber Monday into one membership promotion.
- November 18: the Rock the River fundraiser at Awaysis Rio Bar.
- December 16, 5 p.m.: the ANA holiday dinner at Whiskey Kitchen inside The Joint Boutique Hotel, Insurgentes 108.
Volunteer inquiries for cleanups go to volunteer@amapaspv.com. For the murals themselves, the full set of 22 descriptions is on amapaspv.com/stairs, next to the stairs' donation link.
At Daniel Alvarez Real Estate, we pay attention to how a neighborhood actually gets around: which stairways carry the foot traffic, which stretches are lit after dark, and which projects neighbors are paying for next. If you'd like to talk about how the routes around your Amapas home fit into its everyday value, Get in Touch.