The Prices and Shopping
For the most
part, prices in Cozumel are about the same as they are in Chicago.
There are over 400 cabs on
the
island and the prices they charge are
about the same as Chicago. They have no meters in the cabs and the prices varied every
ride. Most of the shops seemed to
cater
to the cruise boats and had the normal assortment of items you would
expect in any port of call. There
were a few exceptions. Several of
the women in our group got their hair braided
and beaded by local vendors and
later got dye tattoos. Vanilla is
grown in the region and is very nice and cheap.
The woven blankets are made right on the island from local and regional
fabrics.
Ann, one of
the young women in our party, was discovered by Pedro.
Pedro was producing very detailed, paintings on the street mostly from
spray paint. I think our party
bought about 4 of these paintings and Ann got one for free. Pedro is very good at flirting as were most of the young,
local males. Hector overheard a
conversation where two boys were trying to get some girls into a
restaurant and failing that, they said "...two Mexican
boyfriends to go?"
US dollars were
gratefully accepted
everywhere we went.
The ATMs dispensed pesos, so when we got low on dollars we used pesos.
This was not helpful in Guatemala. They
wanted dollars, but were very reluctant to accept pesos so we didn't do much
shopping on our day trip to Tikal.