Mercados can wear you out…

Susan & I are clearly totally prepared for the holiday season

After a weekend of MBA classes, I needed to get out of the house yesterday afternoon before resuming panicked studying for finals coming up Dec 11-12. John, Susan, and I first stopped by a market in Roma where female Mexican artists were selling their wares. Christmas decor is out in full force, as shown to the right.

Our thought was to drive from there on to Mercado Lagunilla, about 10 blocks north of the Zocalo, where there is allegedly an antiques market on Sundays. Unfortunately in our excitement over potential faux-antique Christmas prezzies for all our family & friends, we forgot Rule #1 of sightseeing around Mexico City: don’t drive your own car if you don’t have to.

So there are about 3 functional lanes of one way traffic on this street, + a right lane where cars are constantly stopped dropping off/picking up folks or loading up purchases. But the best is the far left lane moving in the "wrong" direction, here depicted with a dude pulling a handcart stacked with more boxes than I ever thought could fit on your average dolly + multiple big-ass peseros trying to weave through the traffic.

I think we spent about an hour traversing the ~2 miles to Lagunilla, with the bulk of that sitting in traffic on the main street through the market area, lined with stands on either side. Calle Rayón is one of the many curious multiple-lane, one-way streets in Mexico City whose far left lane is dedicated to large buses driving in the opposite direction. (because what could possibly go wrong??) We observed numerous contestants playing a fun game called “How long can I drive into oncoming traffic in the far left lane before I am mowed down by a bus?”

Anyway, we decided we’d made an error in judgement, agreed to give up our antiques-quest for the day, and finally managed to turn off of this mess of a street. On our way out of the Lagunilla area, we passed this man who was clearly one step ahead of us in knowing how to handle spending time in this mercado:

This guy definitely has the right idea for taking a break from the frenzy at your average weekend market in Mexico...