Market Day

Today I went to one of my favorite places to buy Mexican handicrafts, the Ciudadela Market, a place which I have mentioned before in this blog.

I took the Metrobus to the Balderas stop.  Balderas is a busy avenue in the heart of the city, and the bus stop is next to the Plaza Ciudadela, a shady park with a monument to José María Morelos y Pavón, one of the heroes of the Mexican War for Independence.

At one side of the park is the large, nondescript building which houses the handicraft market.

Within there are over 350 stalls which sell a wide variety of merchandise.  As I have said before, a lot of it is tourist junk, but there is also a lot of quality handicrafts to be found here.  You can buy everything from souvenir T-shirts (some tacky, some actually quite nice) to handmade guitars.

I came here to buy a birthday present.  I knew exactly what I wanted to get, and I knew exactly in which stall I would find it.  It took a bit of searching to find the stall, but I quickly made my purchase.  I shall say no more, in case the recipient should happen to be reading this.  Of course I didn't leave without buying a few more items that caught my eye.  But I did not go wild on this shopping expedition.