Almost every city has a municipal or central "mercadado" or market. These can be outdoor affairs that are open only a few hours one day a week, or they can be "ferias" lasting several days and hosting hundreds of different vendor or they can be like the one shown here, a large building containing small shops and kiosks (a sort of downscale mall) selling everything from medicinal herbs to meats to folk art to shoes. The largest I have seen is in San Jose, Costa Rica, which has a very very large rather dimly lit cave-like Mercado Central. Great bargains can often be found at such markets, but be prepared to do real bargaining. They will tell you your offer is ridiculous and isn't worthy of discussion. You need to tell them their asking price is too high. Then wait for them to lower the asking price a bit. You up your initial offer a bit. They yell and gesticulate and you shrug and pretend to walk off. This will go on until you both arrive at a reasonable price which would have been their asking price to start with if they hadn't expected you to bargain. Some vendors are now realizing that Gringos aren't used to bargaining and are just setting a final price and refusing to bargain. Be aware of what the object you want is going for in other stalls at the same market or on the street.
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