Shopping in Coyoacan

By Ylva Mossing

If you’re looking for action – or retail therapy - the best time to visit Coyoacan is on a Sunday. The hustle and bustle might not offer any great opportunities for a peaceful stroll along the plazas, but as far as entertainment goes you won’t be disappointed. Clowns, jugglers and musicians perform all day on the main plazas, salsa music mingling with guitars and whining barrel organs. Get your hair braided, join the dancing couples or join the faithful in church.

Sunday is also market day which means that the two main plazas, Plaza Centenario and Jardín Hidalgo, are jam-packed with vendors, stalls and food stands. You’ll find the usual backpacker attire of leather bracelets, woven ethnic bags and souvenir t-shirts, but also traditional handicrafts, decorative papers and lamps. The market place behind Sanborns offers a greater variety of colourful alebrijes (hand-painted wooden monsters and animals), glass, textile and silver handicrafts as well as traditional clothing.