Arrested Development - Ex-Pats Mexico

The main entrance to this 3 block long market starts about five blocks east of the center of town. The further north you go the less expensive the crafts are and fewer shops. We bought some woven coin purses on the north end for 15 pesos and they wanted 40 pesos at the other end. Just a fun place and much like a Tianguis anywhere in Mexico.

There is another "art market" across the river a few blocks away with landscaped grounds, parking and very high prices. That would be the "gringo market" or the generally well to do - we skipped it.

http://sparks-mexico.com/guanajuato/sma ... index.html

Sparks:

As an experienced Mexico traveler - would the Artisan Street Market be better than visiting the outlying towns for selection and prices? I have a preconceived image that shopping in SMA would be similar to shopping in Ajijic versus shopping in Tonala!

But the above stuff is 'tourist' stuff from all over Mexico. Yes you could probably do better for Talavera in Dolores Hidalgo .... or anywhere things are made. A big city like Leon may be cheaper if they have markets ... but they specialize in leather goods I think. Probably depends on what you want and how much

As someone who has always had a great interest in all types of artesania, and who has traveled throughout most of Mexico looking at the good, the bad and the incredibly ugly, I have a few thoughts about shopping in San Miguel. Unless your pockets are deep, you will probably do better on the average to low quality souvenirs elsewhere. The main thing SMA has going for it is that it has incredible collections of the really fine, top of the line artesania. It's for sale at inflated prices, sure. But it is available for viewing and if you want to learn what the really excellent quality looks like, you can find it there. I think you should still go to the place it was made to buy it but you can do some wonderful research in the finer stores in SMA. In addition, there are stores there that have things made to order that are not available elsewhere, even in the area where they are made. They are made to please the eye and the life of a foreigner, not necessarily to please the eye or be as useful to the person that made it. As an example, weavings that will fit a king size bed. Not easily found in the villages where they are made but ordered and made for stores in upscale areas like SMA. You can find or have made for less money any of the things you see there if you take the time to travel extensively, speak Spanish, know where it is made, and have the eye and the knowledge to tell the well made from the schlock. If you want to see the best of several different art forms in one town, SMA is a good option.

ps. Talavera is only made in Puebla, just to be pedantic about it. There is some fine pottery made in Dolores Hidalgo but it is not correctly called Talavera. You can find true Talavera for sale in SMA, the price will reflect the authenticity although you can also find the fake for a high price. Know what you are buying and pay appropriately.

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Talavera can be found in North Africa (where it came from originaly) Spain, Holland, France, Italy and many other countries. In Mexico you can find talavera in Dolores Hidalgo, Tlaxcala and Puebla.
Puebla does not have exclusivity on talavera. What Puebla did is buy patents on some traditional designs , got the exclisivity and raised their prices. In short Puebla was much smarter at marketing than the other areas in Mexico but it does not have exclusivity on talavera.

San Miguel is famous for its tin work .

A few years ago I was talking to a man at LCS who was very disgusted with SMA. He said the residents of SMA call the Lake Chapala area, "the trailer park." He was talking to an SMA resident who was bragging about how many houses he owned and asked the Chapala resident how many he had. He didn't answer Mr. SMA. I told him he should have said, "I own four. One I'm staying in here, it's parked down the street, two are parked at Lake Chapala and I have those rented out, and one is parked at Jocotepec where I live sometimes." That would have shut him up and he would have moved to talk to better and more pretentious company.

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However Puebla manufactures very fine talavera with different techniques than other areas which makes it specific to Puebla.
Not all talavera in Puebla or anywhere else where talavera is made is of the same quality so you have to spend time shopping and looking for the high quality. Puebla style is very beautiful and some of it is worth the extra money some other not...


I think San Miguel has some wonderful stores and like Tlaquepaque it is a good spot to learn about high end artisania. I go looking in these places, find out where things are done and then find the artisans in their shops in whatever town or village they live. It is time consuming but once you have your list you can deal with some of the very best people at reasonable prices.

That would be a possible method that you could try to procure some "Heritage Tomatoes" Eh