It's easy to get the wrong impression of Latin America's largest indoor marketplace, Mercado Libertad, better known to locals as Mercado San Juan de Dios. With over 1,000 stalls, it is impossible to see everything in one visit. Most tourists explore one corner and come out with the impression that the market carries one particular kind of merchandise, like kitchenware, shoes, or produce, depending on which entrance you use. In fact, the market has everything under the sun, including lots of great souvenirs. The problem is that most of the best stalls for local handicrafts, like wooden toys, papier-mâché masks, and clay miniatures are hidden on the inner courtyard, which most short-term visitors never discover. Traditional costumes, sombreros, and souvenir T-shirts are on the first level near the parking structure. If you are looking for something in particular, find out the Spanish word for it and ask.

Vendors are friendly, and someone will be able to point you in the right direction. Most vendors can at least give prices in English. Haggling is expected, but don't be insulting. People put a lot of time and effort into their handicrafts. 

At 4:30pm at Plaza de los Mariachis, you can see plenty of Mariachis sitting around in the afternoon sun. Nobody was playing, though. I guess they were saving their energy for the evening performance.

The Mercado Libertad next door seemed endless. Vendors are crammed in side-by-side, most of them watching an episode of their favourite soap opera if business is slow. The majority of goods on offer were household and electronic items and it’s definitely not the best place for souvenir shopping (unless you're looking for shoes!). However, further back, you can find some artistically arranged fruit and vegetable stalls, with some produce I’d never seen or heard of before.

Walking back along Morelos, there is a better opportunity for souvenir shopping as there are a number of stalls selling a wide variety of tourist-friendly items (t-shirts, paintings, rugs, handicrafts, etc). There’s also a row of high-end jewelry shops, watched over by gun-toting security guards.

We took a rest behind Teatro Degollado where we sat next to a couple of clowns rummaging through a box of pirated DVDs, an interesting sight to behold in any public place.