Macha Mexico: A Lesbian Guide to Mexico City » shopping

La Lagunilla

Anahi — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:30:06 +0000

One of my favorite places in Mexico City is La Lagunilla, a fifty-year-old market close to Plaza Garibaldi and Tepito. Lagunilla means “little lagoon”, a clear reference to the pool from which vendors of the Tlatelolco market transported their goods before the arrival of the Spaniards.

The lagoon was dried, as well as the rest of the water that surrounded the ancient Tenochtitlan. New houses for wealthy Spaniards transformed the area, until 1833, when a cholera epidemic killed the dwellers or made them flee away. Poor people took over the empty houses, while commercial activities flourished. At the turn of the twentieth century, the local government built a new market that supplied close colonias such as Santa María La Ribera and Guerrero, attracting more vendors and more buyers, giving the neighborhood the buzzing flair that it still has.

Tourist guides recommend to go to La Lagunilla on Sundays, when the antiques market settles along Comonfort street. There, you can find all sorts of old objects, ranging from vintage clothes and furniture to used coca-cola bottles, vinyls, and old dolls. An experience that I can only describe as a dive in the craze of the lost-and-found of a huge, messy city. This part of the market has shrunk over the years, to cede some space to the a new generation of vendors whose merchandise range from goth or hippie clothes, bootleg music and videos (you can find artsy movies here), and t-shirts, to art craft, books, all kind of tchotchkes, and food.

Even though in Mexico it’s illegal to drink on the streets, it is normal to see vendors pulling a cart containing the necessary ingredients to sell beer in the shape of micheladas here. So, don’t miss the opportunity to drink while you wander around…

But more interestingly, La Lagunilla is also a group of buildings that held markets that open on weekdays. There, you can find the traditional vestidos de novia, primera comunión, and quince años–which are the equivalent to the “sweet sixteen ” in the U.S.–a paradise for celebration itself.

An unforgettable reference of this market is the 80′s movie Lagunilla Mi Barrio, a story about a man (Manolo Fábregas) who losses his job and tries to start all over as a antique dealer in La Lagunilla, where he finds true friendship, and love. If you really are into Mexican pop culture, the movie is full of Mexican stars, and it has a second part dated on 1982, Lagunilla Mi Barrio 2.

La Lagunilla antiques market, Sundays from 10 to 4, Comonfort St. Lagunilla subway station. You can also get there from Reforma Av., right on front of the Cuitláhuac statue. The rest of the market is open everyday, except Tuesdays, on the same schedule.

Mercado del Chopo

Anahi — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:30:33 +0000

Few places in Mexico City tell the story of “alternative” culture in the city like the Mercado del Chopo does. The market was born in the early eighties, during an alternative rock festival hosted by the Museo del Chopo. Legend tells that the festival, and especially the market, had such a success that the museum decided to extend the permission for the market one more week. For many, the little, improvised market was an opportunity to learn about new music, innovative rythms, and meet people with the same interests. Also, the market was a place where it was allowed to exchange items, meaning that if you were a teenager with no money, you would be totally able to negotiate and maybe, have that cassette or that record you wanted so much. Those were the romantic eighties: a time when the internet didn’t exist and getting underground music was a big adventure.

Goth clothes in the Mercado del Chopo

After those two weeks, the market proved to be strong enough to survive by moving to another street, very close to the museum. The appearance of the audience and rumours about the marketing of drugs were enough reason to send the police to kick out the vendors off the street. Yet, sellers and buyers moved from one street to another, until they ended up on Aldama street, in the Colonia Guerrero, close to the now disappeared Buenavista train station. In this location, the market became the place where new groups can reach out audiences interested in new music and new styles, not only because they can sell their records here, but also because the street also works as an open stage that attracts all kind of audiences.

During the nineties and later on, the Mercado del Chopo was a great place where you could find Rock en Español, a pure musical movement that in those years was also know as “Musica en tu idioma” (Music in your own language). For those familiar with Mexican rock and pop, groups like Café Tacuba and Maldita Vecindad found in this market a place and support to create an important music scene entirely in Spanish.

In spite of the great job done by the organization in charge of keeping the market alive, the Mercado del Chopo faces criticism from purists and what a friend of mine calls the “forevers”, referring to the old guys who are stocked in the past and want everything to stay the way it is, who say that the market is now under the “evil” hands of teenagers interested only in fashion or commercial music. Maybe part of this is true since most of the stalls in the market sell merchandise, and exchange can be found only in the very last section of the marketplace, at the end of the street: the Espacio Anarco Punk, where some people sell and/or exchange CD’s, records, videocassettes, cassetes, DVD’s, and books. But music is fashion, and it always needs refreshing airs to keep itself alive. Also, the Mercado del Chopo has been able to adapt itself to the swirling changes of the industry—which includes using the internet as a tool to gather and keep a community together: for example, you can listen their radio station by clicking here, and after thirty years, it is still fascinating to walk on this street to watch young people showing off their best clothes and their great make-up.

Mercado del Chopo, Aldama street, between Sol and Luna streets. Saturday, from 11 to 4 hrs. Revolución Metro Station and Buenavista Metrobús Station

Plaza Cafe at "La Conchita"

Anna — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:03:54 +0000

Coyoacán is one of those neighborhoods in Mexico City that is nice (and safe) to get lost in. Wandering off of the two main plazas, any number of the small streets you walk down might open up into another, smaller plaza with a colorful church or interesting building to sit in the shade of and admire for a while.

But if you are someone who seeks a specific destination in your escape from the (often oppressive) bustle of Plaza Hidalgo and the Jardín Centenario, I recommend heading south down Calle Higuera for several blocks until you reach La Conchita, a small park centered around La Capilla de la Conchita, a tiny eighteenth century baroque chapel with moorish-inspired details.

balloon seller in La Conchita

The park itself is peaceful and has many benches, good for public necking, but there are some historical sights that make La Conchita worth strolling through. In addition to the Capilla de la Conchita, this plaza is home to the Casa Colorada, historic home of La Malinche (a.k.a. Malintzin to the Aztecs, and Doña Marina to the Spaniards), the mistress/native informant/baby mama of Cortés, symbolic mother of the mestizo, and fascinating historical and cultural figure. Hers is the red house on the corner of Higuera and Vallarta, but it is no longer open to the public.

If you stroll down to La Conchita to escape the bustle of Plaza Hidalgo and the Jardín Centenario (which, at this date, are undergoing major construction, threatening the livelihood of many vendors who usually set up shop there) and are looking for a place to grab a coffee, the Plaza Café, on the northern edge of the park, is not a bad choice.

In addition to hot and cold coffee drinks (between 14 and 30 pesos), you can also buy coffee grounds and beans here. Although I have never done so, the quality of the drinks I’ve ordered in house suggests that this might not be a bad place to come for a bag of freshly ground. Items which caught my eye on the menu (but which I have yet to sample) were the strudel and bisquets served with homemade fruit preserves. There are also many flavors of ice-cream and sorbet. For more savory options, under the section of the menu labeled “Para Matar el Hambre” (“Kill Your Hunger”) there are also empanadas and sandwiches served on bagels from 28 to 43 pesos.

The atmosphere of this cafe is open and relaxed; the music is not obnoxiously loud. It seems to draw a younger crowd (who linger near the front, perhaps just to hang out with the wait staff) as well as people in their thirties and forties enjoying a quiet place to have a coffee. I met an awesome transgender dyke there once, suggesting a pretty queer-friendly vibe among the staff, although not an explicitly lesbian or transgender establishment. The Plaza Café is a perfect place to seek refuge if you are caught in a summer rain while meandering in La Conchita.

Plaza Café; at the corner of Vallarta and Higuera on the northern edge of La Conchita