Mar 17, 2009 - Mercado 28, Cancun

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Having benchmarked the expensive shops in the hotel zone from our shopping trip Monday, our plan for today, was to spend the morning at the pool and then go into Cancun City via bus to Mercado 28 (Market 28). Mercado 28 was represented as a market that the locals use (i.e. not another tourist trap), where bargains on silver were available albeit with the usual vendor haggling protocol. In fact, it’s doubtful that it is anything other than a tourist trap and questionable if value can be realized unless one is relatively expert on the quality of the goods being considered and value in the local economy.

After breakfast, we took up what had become our usual spots at poolside. At some juncture, I went out to the beach and signed out a snorkeling mask, breathing tube and fins. I didn’t spend a lot of time at it, but swam the length of the beach in the direction of the hotel zone (E) to a set of submerged rocks where there were abundant, good-sized fish (but absent any colour).

After lunch, we hopped on the bus for Mercado 28, the same one which stops for the nearby WalMart. We 1st went to WalMart to buy a couple of bottles of SPG 30 sunscreen, in case our supply ran out. From there, it’s maybe a 4 block walk to Mercado 28. It turns out that its vendors are highly aggressive. We spent quite some time in the 1st jewellery store, but decided to postpone any decision until we saw more shops. At our next stop in an open air stall, Lynda was able to buy a couple of silver Mayan and/or Aztec disc pendants for what was probably a reasonable price of 50 pesos.

Our next stop was a shop whose owner went by the self-proclaimed Cheapo Filipo. While we were there, another set of tourists arrived to say he had been recommended by their hotel. We had negotiated what we considered a pretty reasonable deal for a 95 silver turquoise necklace and bracelet of 2,700 pesos vs. his 3,800 pesos asking - reasonable until the tourist said she had been told that she should be able to get a 50% discount. I still feel we got good value.

We were then greeted by someone who recognized us from the Riu Caribé, who said he’d seen us there yesterday when he was bartending. I no longer know if that was true (since we were wearing Riu ID plastic bracelets). He took us to one of his 7 brothers (4 sisters). After some negotiation, we bought a necklace for less than ½ his original offer, and at a price which I believed might be below his cost. While at another of their stores for the credit card payment, we met another brother. He took us to yet a 3rd store, where Lynda saw something that was beyond what we were willing to pay, in part because of the accumulated spending for the day. The original asking was US$880, and we settled on 4,100 pesos (C$410). At this point, we felt pretty good.

On our return, we stopped in at the 1st store and, in addition to buying something, asked the guy what he thought a good price would be on our last buy - 1,100 pesos! Someone later said that was to poison the well, so that any future return would be to him (and Lynda shrewdly said the smart move would have been to find a similar piece and ask the fellow the price). Pretty bad when you don’t know if you’ve gotten anywhere near the value of what might be available in the local market. If I were to consider doing jewellery shopping in future in Mexico, I would try to be accompanied by a local who is knowledgeable on product and price.

After supper that evening, we attended the evening show, comprised predominantly of Cuban dancers.