Market shopping in Mexico
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local market
The local market on the west side of the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra is where you can find everything from fruit, vegetables and fresh trout to herbal medicines, crafts and clothing - including the region's distinctive striped shawls and sarapes. There's outstanding cheap food, too.
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Mercado de Artesanías
Bargaining is the standard at this 400-stall mercado, especially as sellers often find suckers among the many cruise-ship passengers. The market is located between Avenida Cuauhtémoc and Velásquez de León and is Acapulco’s main craft market. It’s paved and pleasant, and an OK place to get better deals on everything that you see in the hotel shops including hammocks, jewelry, clothing and T-shirts.
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B
Mercado Los Globos
Bric-a-brac collectors will find heaven on earth at the Mercado Los Globos, a sprawling market area spanning eight square blocks on Calle 9a, several blocks east of Av Reforma. Vendors sell everything from old cutlery, dusty plates and broken 1970s radios to fruits, vegetables and a plethora of dried chilies. Weekends are the best time to visit.
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C
Mercado de Sonora
Has all the ingredients for Mexican witchcraft. Aisles are crammed with stalls hawking potions, amulets, voodoo dolls and other esoterica. This is also the place for a limpia (spiritual cleansing), a ritual that involves clouds of incense and an herbal brushing. Sadly, some vendors at the market trade illegally in endangered animals.
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Mercado Municipal
This is a good, authentic Mexican market where locals come to shop for cheap clothing, homewares, meat, produce and what-have-you, and to eat at inexpensive taquerías. The east side is the most colorful, with flowers and stacks of fruit and vegetables on offer. Most of the activity takes place between 06:00 and 14:00.
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Mercado Central
This truly local market, a sprawling indoor-outdoor bazaar, has everything from atole to zapatos (shoes) – not to mention produce, hot food and souvenirs. Any eastbound ‘Pie De La Cuesta’ or ‘Pedregoso’ bus will drop you off here; get off where the sidewalk turns to tarp-covered stalls.
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Pasaje de las Artesanías
Embroidered huipiles (sleeveless tunics) from Santa Ana Chiautempan, carved canes from Tizatlán, and amaranth candies from San Miguel del Milagro are sold along the pedestrian-only Pasaje de las Artesanías alley, which forms an arc northeast of the Muñoz/Allende intersection.
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Mercado El Popo
El Popo is the most colorful downtown market, with stacks of fresh cheeses, sweets, wooden spoons, piles of dried chilies, kitchenware, herbs, incense, santeria, candles, love soaps, stacks of bundled cinnamon sticks, bee pollen and fruit all pushing you toward sensory overload.
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G
Bazar Artesanal
The state-run Folk Art Bazaar, down by the malecón near the Centro de Convenciones Campeche XXI, offers one-stop shopping for regional crafts. One section of the market is reserved for demonstrations of traditional craft techniques. Prices are set – no bargaining.
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Mercado Juárez
This gigantic daily Mercado Juárez is behind the bus station. On Friday, villagers swarm in to exchange fruit, flowers, pots, clothes and plastic goods. The market may be colorful, but it’s also chaotic and not a great place to buy local handicrafts.
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Mercado de Mariscos
An Ensenada institution is the colorful (and odiferous) Mercado de Mariscos, where you can admire - and purchase - the daily catch. After browsing the piles of abalone steaks, tuna slabs, and mounds of purple octopi, hit the taquerías across the way.
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Mercado Hidalgo
This is where locals come to buy spices, dried chilies, exotic produce, fresh tortillas and seasonal specialties made from Aztec grains. Be sure to check with customs before taking fruits or vegetables over the border. Dried hibiscus flowers make excellent tea.
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Tianguis
Be sure to hit the Tianguis, the biggest weekly outdoor extravaganza, beside the Gigante shopping center, 2.5km east of the center on the Querétaro road. Take a 'Gigante' or 'Placita' bus (10 minutes) from Mesones, near Plaza Civica.
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J
Centro de Artesanías la Ciudadela
A favorite destination for good stuff from all over Mexico. Worth seeking out are Oaxaca alebrijes (whimsical painted animals), guitars from Paracho, and Huichol beadwork. Prices are generally fair, even before you bargain.
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Mercado de Artesanías
A tumbledown Mercado de Artesanías operates on the side street adjacent to the Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra. Wooden masks and pastel crucifixes, are among the crafts sold here. Quality varies but prices are low.
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Mercado de Artesanías
Jewelry, blankets, furniture, baskets, silver, pottery and leather goods are available in stores on Avenidas Revolución and Constitución at the sprawling Mercado de Artesanías just south of Comercio (Calle 1a).
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El Parián Crafts Market
Browse local Talavera, onyx and trees of life, as well as the sorts of leather, jewelry and textiles that you find in other cities. Some of the work is shoddy, but there’s also some quality handiwork, and prices are reasonable.
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Mercado Independencia
The Mercado Independencia , between Degollado and Zapata, is an energetic marketplace dealing mostly in meat and vegetables, but the outside shops along Av Independencia do offer some choice cowboy wear.
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Mercado N Bravo
Downtown's indoor seafood and vegetable market has a section of food stalls guaranteeing some of the cheapest eats in town (soups, seafood, stuff like that). You'll enjoy them only if you can handle the smell of fish.
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Mercado Hidalgo
Hidalgo is the main market in Guanajuato. It boasts the region's best candy and a stack of stalls loaded with beautiful pottery. The building itself was constructed for the 100th anniversary of Mexico's independence.
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Q
Artisans' Market
Between Rayón and Víctimas, you'll see what looks like a block-long tarp shelter, but inside you'll find a gritty, bustling Artisans' Market with lower prices, hokieness beyond belief and fantastic finds.
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Corredor del Arte
Calle Mina in the Barrio Antiguo becomes the Corredor del Arte, a combination arts-and-crafts and flea market, on Sundays. Bands play too. Also on Sunday, painters sell their works in the Zona Rosa’s Plaza Hidalgo.
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Bazar Sábado
The Saturday bazaar showcases some of Mexico’s best handcrafted jewelry, woodwork, ceramics and textiles. Artists and artisans also display work in Plaza San Jacinto itself and adjacent Plaza Tenanitla.
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Mercado Gómez Palacio
You can find just about anything in the jumbled maze of stalls at Mercado Gómez Palacio, including tacos, pottery, cowboy hats, saddles, dried herbs, flowers and Mennonite cheese.
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Mercado Principal
Prowl around the main market and survey the spices and herbs, exotic fruit, honey and chilies. Bonetería Bazar Puebla has a good selection of huipiles and guayaberas.
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