Strolled downtown a couple of evenings. Plenty of local vendors out and about selling everything from art to jewelry. The cab ride there was only about $5. If you are a little adventurous step into one of the bars and check the locals out. They were extremely friendly!

So you've wandered the length of the Malecon and are finishing perusing the stuff at the south end. Now it's time to head about four blocks inland and check out the flea market which is along the north side of the Rio Cuale. What a zoo! Lots and lots of trinkety stuff in row after row of booth—like shops inside a block-sized building. Everybody is trying to work you to get you into their shop. We found that all the shops had mostly the same stuff in them with about 5% difference between them. Here's where you get to practice your haggling. Words to live by in the flea market, "Muy caro" "demasiado caro" both basically meaning too expensive. There are also a couple of shops here that have some pretty decent leather goods but most of the rest have tourist junk; shot glasses, ashtrays, cheap T-shirts, etc. This is the same stuff you found on the Malecon but now you get to argue over the price. Yay Fun!

No one can truly experience Mexico without visiting the local flea markets and shops. They are touristy and everything you would expect at a Mexican marketplace. Haggling is a MUST! Believe me, that is what makes it so much fun. You can pretty much expect that anything you see can be yours for just a little over half the asking price. I purchased all of my souvenirs for family and friends here. There are great pieces of pottery, handmade clothing, jewelry, and hammocks, and plenty of traditional tourist junk like T-shirts, key chains, spoons, etc. You could easily spend two or three afternoons in the flea markets and it's worth every minute!

After about 5pm, many of the shops in the actual markets close up for the day--just in time for happy hour at almost every bar in the city. One of my favorite things about Puerto Vallarta was the buy-one-get-two-FREE drink specials! Now THAT'S a vacation!

It's interesting to see what is for sale in the markets, but after a while, everything is kind of the same and if you don't buy anything, they call you cheap, or they follow you and hound you to buy something. It's neat to go for a cup of lemonade in the little restaurants in the flea market.

I highly recommend a trip to the flea markets downtown. There is so much to see and experience. You have to be careful because there are two "fake" flea markets downtown on the Malecon...a local told us these were tourist traps. They are small market areas with a few nice shops, but can be a little pricey--the real flea market is at the very end of the Malecon at the base of a bridge in a two-story complex packed with stalls and merchandise.

These guys have everything for sale in Mexico. They have numerous types of carvings: wood, metal, statuettes, figurines, chess sets, and wall-hangings. They have uncountable glassware ranging from utility pieces to decorations and of course tequila/liquor serving sets and shot-glasses. We really did see a lot of very colorful sinks for cabinet installations--they would really liven up anyones powder room. They also had a lot of pottery and blankets and hammocks and leather goods and jewellry and souvenirs and who knows how much else I've forgotten.

We usually had good luck bartering with the locals but just like everywhere there was good salesman and poor salesman. We found that if you deal fairly and politely then you usually have good results. We noticed a couple rude customers and salesmen and we just avoided those areas.

Also, take a look around this area while you are here. We found a couple great shops here and a really good cafe in this area where we just relaxed and had a couple drinks to cool off and get re-vitalized.