CANCUN, Mexico — Tourism officials say Cancun is popular because of its reputation as a fun, safe place to spend spring break, but many American students are lured by a different slogan: Anything goes.
"It's a nonstop party. You just lose yourself," said Annie Neyman, 19, a University of Iowa student drinking an enormous strawberry margarita from a long beaker-shaped glass while lounging in a bikini in front of the Oasis Cancun hotel over the weekend.
Neyman's friend, 18-year-old Emily Lottman, said she particularly enjoyed a bathing suit switching contest when men and women ran into the ocean, ripped off their suits and put on someone else's before running back out.
For many U.S. students, traveling South of the Border means leaving inhibitions — and manners — up north. Things they wouldn't dream of doing at home — stripping naked, drinking in public and dirty dancing on the beach — become not only acceptable but desired spring break diversions.
"Local people call them 'the spring monsters' or 'the gremlins,' " said Alonso Cedeno, an agent for Mexico City-based Exclusive Travel Adventures who arrived Friday night with a group of business visitors.
"They've been known to pull down their pants on public buses where young Mexican children are," Cedeno said. "It's a complete show. Whenever we get a group of older people this time of year, we send them somewhere else."
Such behavior was somewhat of a shock even to Cancun, a city built on tourism, when the white-beach resort began heating up as a spring break capital 12 years ago.
But experience has taught officials that there are ways to rein in the approximately 80,000 college and high school students who descend on the peninsula each year, while still reaping the enormous economic benefits they bring during the six-week spring break period.
Four years ago, city officials launched a campaign with the slogan, "Your home away from home. Don't do here what you wouldn't do in your own house."
This year, for the first time, the government, hotels, discos, bars and transportation providers all joined together to launch the "Be Cool While in Cancun" campaign. Arriving students are given fliers containing a list of dos and don'ts that advise them to "Enjoy Cancun and be careful."
"It's to let them know they can have fun without excess, without things that are outside of the law," said Laura Fernandez, Cancun's director of tourism and public relations.
While local establishments pledge to do their best to prevent students from getting out of hand, they also are sending them invitations to participate in erotic games on the beach and to drink as much as they possibly can.
"No Cover. Open Bar Available," says a huge sign in front of the Dady'O disco. "Save Water. Drink Beer," another restaurant along the crowded commercial strip advises.
At 1 p.m., as some students begin to fight their hangovers with sunshine and Gatorade, a plane flies over the beach trailing a banner reminding them that La Boom nightclub offers "All You Can Drink for $22."
A U.S. State Department travel advisory notes, "Alcohol is implicated in the majority of arrests, violent crimes, accidents and deaths suffered by American tourists in Cancun."
Oasis Cancun bar manager Rodolfo Fiero says while some students start fighting or ripping off their clothes when they've had too much to drink, the majority of the Spring Breakers are not out of control.
"They're really no different from Mexican students," he said. "They drink, they pay, they have fun. I've seen adults acting more foolish than they do."
Hotel manager Luis Ramos says students spend more than most adults and provide a good future tourism base. He said 14 couples who met during Spring Break at the Oasis Cancun have returned to get married here.
Older tourists also seem to take the students in stride.
"They don't bother me at all. I was young once, too," said 62-year-old Jim Gross of St. Paul, Minn., reading a Stephen King novel at the Melia Turquesa Hotel near a water-basketball game and a noisy tanning contest.
"So long as they don't get too crazy, I don't care," Gross said.