Buying off the Street in Mexico

If you forget something when you go to Mexico don’t worry they’ve got a replacement for it – cheap; and lots of other stuff that you might need during your trip.

Not long after leaving the airport in Mexico I noticed all the street vendors walking through the busy streets in between cars and on the sidewalks.  I immediately wanted to buy something.  There was just so much stuff.  When I told my friends of my itch, they asked me if I would I buy stuff off the street if I was in New York.  I told them I do not food but that I do buy other things.  They recommended that I keep my purchases in store, but it wasn’t long before I went against their recommendation.

If you’ve read my post on esquite, you know I did something completely out of my comfort zone and also bought food off the streets.

There are certain basic practices that I use when buying off the street anywhere that I would recommend anyone apply.  One such practice is having various amounts of money on different parts of your body to help with negotiations.  For example, some in your front pocket, back pocket, shoe, etc.  Pulling out small amounts of money is also safer if someone is standing by watching and waiting looking for a good person to rob, if they think you only have a little money you’ll be less attractive.

Below is a list of some items I purchased off the street in Mexico:

–          Charger for my camera battery ($47 pesos)
–          Bananas (bag of 7 for $10 pesos)
–          Perfume ($100 pesos) – read my smells blog for why
–          Esquite ($18 pesos -reference blog)
–          Earrings ($5-10 pesos)
–          Superhero Costumes/Souvenirs ($75 pesos)

If the list seems odd it’s there are a few things to be considered.  I like to pack very light when I travel.  It is my preference to only bring carry-on bags whenever possible.  In addition, I forgot things, I made it 30 days without charging the battery in my camera but I eventually lost all power and needed to charge it.  And, finally, I found that some of the street vendors had cheaper produce than the supermarkets.