There are a couple of little shops that I stumbled upon during my many trips to Mexico City, and I return to them to buy souvenirs to take home.
The first is a little hole-in-the-wall in the neighborhood of Roma Norte at 395 Colima Street. "El Huacal" (The Crate) specializes in artisanal beauty and hygiene products all made in Mexico.
In addition to various creams and lotions, they have large variety of artisanal soaps. I often come here and buy a number of bars. I not only use them myself, but they come in handy if I should unexpectedly need to give someone a small gift. Last week I stopped by and purchased six bars... jasmine, rosemary, gardenia, mango, violets and chocolate.
However, I only buy soaps when I have checked luggage. For some odd reason, the security at Mexico City airport does not allow soap in carry-on luggage.
The other store doesn't even have a name. It is located at 632 Pedro Romero de Terreros Street in the Colonia del Valle neighborhood, just down the block from the market that I often go to. It's a little gift shop, not geared toward tourists, but I always find some really neat Mexican handicrafts there that I haven't seen in the more tourist-oriented places. The man and wife who own the store are very pleasant, and I enjoy talking to them.
A few days ago I went there and I found some hand-painted plates from the state of Jalisco that are suitable for hanging on the wall. I ended up buying this one...
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