SHOP, BUT DON'T GET STOPPED
Author:
Bob Morris MARKET SMARTS - As a general rule, the farther out you venture from the tourist zone, the less zealous the vendors are in the many mercados. The most pleasant place to shop: Mercado 28. It's smaller and sleepier than other mercados, and the vendors here seem more inclined to dicker.
ARE THOSE FUZZY CATERPILLARS ON YOUR FOREHEAD, OR ...? - Mercado 28 also boasts a popular restaurant, El Cejas (The Eyebrow). It's named for its owner, a Cancun character famous for his spectacularly bushy brows.
FILL UP WITH UNLEADED - One favorite gift to bring home is vidrio soplado, blown glassware with its signature blue or amber tinge. You can outfit your kitchen cabinet, or your bar, with all kinds of glasses for next to nothing. But make sure to ask if the pieces are lead-free. If only for decoration, you can expect to pay as little as US$1 per piece. But if you are planning to serve margaritas back home, insist on lead-free glass and plan to pay three to four times more.
NO, SENORA, IT IS NOT A KNOCKOFF - Plenty of resort towns have Gucci boutiques, but the two in Cancun (one at Plaza Caracol, another at Flamingo Plaza) import leather directly from Italy and craft it locally following Gucci standards. A pair of shoes that might cost US$400 back home can be had for as little as US$70.
BADGES? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING ... - The eight-mile stretch of highway linking the tourist zone and downtown Cancun is a notorious speed trap. The signs say 70, but that's in kilometers, gringo, and many metric-impaired U.S. visitors learn there's no such thing as a buffer zone if they goose their rentals above 45 mph.
Posted online 10/01/00.
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