I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding another of those bags. Here in Oaxaca they're everywhere, in markets & shops & on arms. I bought one on my last trip 8 years ago & now they're more plentiful than ever. I bought myself a different kind this trip, hand-woven with a leather strap, a newer specialty from a nearby weaving village. You might ask around about what's made locally.

Oh my gosh. Guess I can't guarantee it for the port of Cozumel, but agree generally they are *everywhere*. I'm too tech-challenged to post photos, but I have a dozen+ of all different kinds of woven baskets similar to those. Very cute and super useful. If you can't find them, I'll eat my sombrero

Thanks, all...I have to figure out where they are made, just to satisfy my curiosity. I've bought some in Oaxaca city and in Merida so I imagine I'll find a few in Cozumel...I'm leaving this morning!! Should be getting ready instead of writing this!!

¡Buen viaje!

Thanks, Suze! We dock tomorrow at 7am, so I hope to get taxi to market and then hope to go to the beach to go swimming. I read that Playa Palancar is good; you pay to get in so I guess I can leave my stuff on a lounge...don't know what else to do with it if I go alone...

Have to be back early because ship leaves at 4pm..

Back from the Mercado Municipal in Cozumel, where I spent an hour this morning, taking a taxi from the cruise pier ($12USD)
I was surprised because this is not at all a tourist-oriented market and in fact, there is almost nothing for sale that would interest most tourists. Very little fruit--all imported from the mainland); no stands brimming with dried chiles or dried Jamaica bins, kitchen things mostly imported from Asia apart from a few wooden spoons and the wooden molineros for whipping hot chocolate.... Very few tourists. And NO WOVEN BASKETS!!! Only the Mexican version of those utilitarian "Ghana must go" type bags that are not what I was looking for...

Very interesting if you have not visited a local Mexican market, but not so interesting if you've been to the larger, more well-stocked ones.....


Cozumel municipal market

Food stand inside market....there were also a few stands selling jugos y aquas....

Market scene..Cozumel

Vendors were very friendly and did not mind me snapping a few pics

I wish I had sampled a fruit juice....

Market restaurant


One stand sold some basic kitchen items...

Nice photos! Thanks so much for posting!

I only spent about 45 minutes in the market, so I decided to go to the beach after that. I found a taxi driver to take me to PLAYA PALANCAR, which I had read was one of the nicest beaches on the west side of the island.

I liked this driver a lot; his English was perfect and we had some fascinating discussion about immigration on the ride to the beach..I was sorry the ride (about 25 minutes) was so short since I liked chatting with him. If you are looking for a driver in Cozumel, I'd recommend him. He drives a nice new van and he is the owner of the van, unlike many of the drivers in Cozumel, who rent their taxis. ($30USD for 8 hours, plus gasoline, which is much more expensive than in the US. So a driver can hope to bring home about $40-$50US in a day of driving if he rents his vehicle..Ii got this info from the next driver who returned me to the port)

The driver I liked, with the nice van, is ISRAEL SUAREZ
His e-mail is:
[email protected]

Phone/What's App;
987 2977647

Perfect English and very interesting and kind.

PLAYA PALANCAR looked lovely--not a wide beach but clean white sand and beautiful, clear seas. There is a $20 admission charge which gets you a lounge and an umbrella.
Since the day was cloudy and windy, I asked if I could skip the fee and just take a look and snap a few photos. That was fine; I really wanted to swim but the water was a little rough and not one person was in the water, although there were about two dozen people (maybe) lounging on chairs. I bet this is a great place in good weather. They have a little snack area with drinks and food and it looked very homey and local...nothing spiffed up for cruisers (although I'm not sure any locals pay the entry fee; one driver told me locals get in free but I can't confirm that..)

Here are some photos:



Cozumel's Playa Palancar on a cloudy, windy weekday in January

No one swimming that morning..but the water was beautiful!!

Food and drinks at the entrance to the beach

Taxis waiting at the cruise port, Puerta Maya. The guys who rent their taxis seem to stick to the official rates, which are posted here and at the beaches...I walked away from this area and got a taxi on the street...


For the return from Playa Palancar to the cruise port, I didi my best to get a good price but had to pay the official rate of $30 because none of the drivers hanging out at the lot would take me for less. Now that I understand that these guys rent their cars and pay for gas, I understand why I got such a good price from the market to the beach, but had to pay much more for the much shorter drive from the beach back to the cruise port....

The cruise port, PUERTA MAYA, has the usual collection of tourist shops. Prices for alcohol did not seem too be all that lower than those in the US, but I'm not sure about that.


Some people recommend a store called LOS CINCO SOLES, which seems to offer the most "upscale" variety of merchandise in that shopping center. I did see some good quality pottery from Michoacan, some fair quality black pottery from Oaxaca, and some of those very pretty patient wood and ceramic figures from Guerrero--all at prices much higher than you'd pay at their origin. There was a very small selection of the colored glasses made in Jalisco for decent prices.

Other than that, the array seemed pretty junky..lots of t-shirts, wind chimes, and the ubiquitous vanilla. The vanilla!! So many people are so pumped about buying vanilla in Cozumel.
​​​​​​​But I took a look at the ingredients on the bottle here and was not very tempted. I'm not a baker, though. And I thought Papantla (Veracruz) was the capital of Mexican vanilla production, so why are so many people buying it here??? Well, yes, they are not going to make a trip to Papantla to buy vanilla, but I'm not so sure the vanilla in this store was a huge bargain as compared to the quality brands sold on Amazon. It's cheaper, but is the quality as good as Nielsen Massey, etc?? It's not like it's pure vanilla in liquid form...The bottles here had alcohol, vanillin, and cane sugar listed before vanilla....

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​I really don't know and I did rub someone my arm and it smelled nice for about five minutes, but I ended up passing.... If you know about this, let me know, for next time....
The only thing I use vanilla for is to make vanilla sugar and (attempt to make) vanilla salt, and I buy the whole beans in Costco.

So did I make a big mistake in passing up the vanilla in Cozumel???

​​​​​​​I did buy one thing..a cute little cosmetic bag printed with Mexican tarot designs....$17US, lined with rubber. I like it but am under no impression that I got any kind of great buy...that's the only thing I bought the entire week so I will have a sweet little memory of the trip!! The funny thing was that after I paid (credit card) I waited for the young salesgirl girl to put it into a bag, but when she made no sign of doing this, I asked for a bag and she told me paper bags cost $1. Ok, so how about wrapping it up in the coarse brown paper that is stacked behind you?? That's also $1 for a sheet.
​​​​​​​Really?. I guess she did not want to deal with another disgruntled tourist so she finally wrapped it halfheartedly and handed it over!! Not even worth noting but I was a little amused...remember I am a novice at cruise port shopping!!

I'm now waiting to go for our farewell dinner.....tomorrow we return to Ft. Lauderdale after a fun and relaxing week....

remember I am a novice at cruise port shopping!!

Bingo - haha. I only know Puerto Vallarta but for sure shopping around where the cruiseships dock or even in town on days vendors know the ship(s) are in... prices are higher then when you're away from that port area, in 'normal' downtown or old town.