All about Mercado García Rejón in Mérida, Mexico

Mercado García Rejón (Bazar de Artesanías García Rejón) is a small market or rather a crafts bazar in the center of Mérida with a great variety of stores. The García Rejón market is a good place if you want to buy Yucatecan arts, crafts and clothing.

You´ll also find shoes, jewelry, hammocks or objects made of henequen among other merchandise. In fact, a little bit of everything, as is typical of many markets in Mérida, and that is what makes such a market so special. It is a unique shopping experience.

There are for example beautiful guayaberas, a linen shirt worn in Central America, the Caribbean and the north of South America. It is also available in very fine henequen. You will find guayaberas for men and beautiful embroidered guayaberas for women.

The prices are much cheaper compared to the stores closer to the city center and you can also negotiate if you want (in general, by the way, there is less haggling over prices than you might think).

Yucatecan delicacies

Although this is an arts and crafts market, you will also find a cafe and food stalls where you can enjoy truly delicious Yucatecan delicacies. What kind of Yucatecan delicacies are these? For example cochinita pibil (traditional pork tortas) with horchata (rice milk).

Always important is the relleno negro (very similar to cochinita pibil, the difference being the spices used, as it has a black sauce and this dish is usually cooked in an underground over for 12 hours).

Furthermore salbutes (a tortilla-based food, that is topped with pulled meat and pickled onion), lomitos (a dish made out of small cubes of pork meat marinated in a delicious tomato sauce with spices), tamales (a unique Pre-Columbian dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaves).

And much more, all at very reasonable prices!

History of the market

The market hall is located on the shopping street Calle 60 (at the intersection with Calle 65) one block behind the Plaza Grande to the south. The market has a long history.

Initially, it was a marketplace where vegetables were sold in individual stalls in the square. In 1862 and 1881, reconstruction work took place and today's market hall was built. The main entrance to the market has been in use since 1862.

Image Source: ©Bex Walton, flickr, CC BY 2.0, Link

The picture was modified (image improvements, resized)