I was dying to do a little shopping at a Mexican market so I asked around and found out that Mercado 28 (Market 28) in downtown Cancunwas the best and the biggest. I took the R2 bus from the hotel strip through downtown (about 30 minutes) and got off near the Walmart. From there, I walked about five blocks deeper into the residential area of downtown, and I finally found the entrance to Mercado 28 buried behind two large buildings in a narrow alley way. I don’t know if it was my jean miniskirt or my blonde hair, but all of the shop owners targeted me immediately for being a foreigner. They all came up to me asking if I spoke Spanish and if they could “please just show their shop” begging me to “just come on in for the hell of it… you never know”.
Thankfully, I’ve had tons of market shopping experience all over the world so I know the schemes and the tricks. I never paid more than half of what the vendors originally asked for my items (for example: the vendor wanted 1200 pesos for my shell necklace, which is about $100. I refused and finally got it for 150 pesos, which is about $12.50, and probably still a little too much). In all, I spent $55 USD (including 8.50 pesos for the bus each way) and bought a shell bracelet, a chunky shell necklace, a handmade coconut evening bag, cigars, a hemp woven bracelet, and a handmade address book woven from Cancun tree bark. Other great finds (that wouldn’t fit in my carry-on bag) included hand woven blankets, carved Mayan wooden masks, turquoise bracelets, hand carved stone pipes, coasters, and sarongs. Stay tuned for our Ultimate Takeaways from Cancun which highlights these in more detail.