Venders

What is one thing that almost every city has in common?  Venders, people selling almost anything you can imagine from food to trinkets to souvenirs.  This is the same for cities in Mexico, however they have a different way of selling you things and it is definitely something to experience. 

                People always talk about how they went to Mexico or a somewhere in the Caribbean and how they “haggled” to get items that they wanted to buy and to be perfectly honest I have not had much experience with this myself because it is not something you really have to do in the United States.  Back home, you ask how much something is and you pay for it.  You are not able to sit there with the worker or owner of the store and say that you will give them this much and go back and forth until you reach an agreed price (at least not places I have been shopping).  So after talking to our tour guide, Hugo, I learned that when you are going to buy something you do not pay the price that they ask.  When thinking about a good price to pay you take the price that they give you, and then reduce it by 25% and then that is the price that you should pay, just a quick rule of thumb.  So after a few days in the city we definitely wanted to go out and get some things for our friends and family and ourselves too so we went to the center of the city on Friday night and let me tell you that you have no problem finding people to sell you things.  There are venders and stores all over the place with people wanting to sell you things.  That previous statement brings we to another point about the venders/sellers down here, they are very persistent and aggressive.  While we were shopping a man with one leg and crutches literally chased us down to come into his store and see what he was offering, and once you get in the store the people definitely don’t leave you alone until you buy something.  If you show the slightest bit of interest in any item at all watch out.  They will grab it and start throwing numbers at you, and so the haggling begins.  While I was shopping for a bracelet and other little things the man saw I was looking at a particular one and said that it was 270 pesos, so remembering what Hugo said I told him no and so back and forth we went until I finally got the price of the piece down to 150 pesos.  I was pretty proud of myself for being able to haggle and get the item that I wanted for cheaper than it originally was.

                This type of bargaining and bartering is very fun to me and am glad that I have had the chance to do it, and I have gotten pretty good at it if I do say so myself.  I don’t think that I will have much opportunity back in the states because it seems as though our culture revolves around many goods that are imported and have a set price and things, but down here when many of the little vender items are hand made by the people who sell them you cut out the middle man and make the shopping experience definitely more fun and exciting than just giving the people the amount of money that they ask for.