5th Avenue (Avenida 5) is the main street in Playa Del Carmen. The street is an explosion of Mexican culture, restaurants, shopping malls, tour operators and souvenir shops. In the evening the street turns more into a carnival with loads of tourists and a parade of characters.
Along 5th Avenue you will find a slew of stores. There are numerous stores selling resort wear, souvenirs, and silver. Many of the stores and vendors carry the same or similar products. Finding something authentic requires a little more looking. Luckily there are a few galleries along 5th Avenue which carry unique items. For example, Amate Gallery carries bark paper art which has been manufactured in Mexico since the pre-Hispanic times. Amate paper was extensively produced and used for both communication, records and ritual during the Aztec Empire. It was the only store of its kind that I found in my travels. I like unique items that I can’t find anywhere else.
If you want buying power on 5th Avenue then put away the credit credit and your foreign currency and deal in pesos. You’re losing money every time you don’t use pesos! Majority of the time, store owners/vendors will give you a price in usd and pesos. Who knows what number they are using to in their conversion! It's best to do your own conversion especially since the rate changes daily; better yet, exchange your currency to pesos. There are numerous currency exchange booths all along 5th Avenue.
I give kudos to the store owners and street vendors because they sure know how to hustle, but beware they can be aggressive at times. I was invited numerous times to view their products with lines like, “Almost free,” “For you, a special price,” “Where are you from?” Some will go as far as offering you shots of tequila just to get you to buy their goods. If you don’t want to be haggled, I found that if I walked directly in the middle of the street, I was less likely to be approached.
Brush up on your negotiating skills because this is the place to use them (this is also were having pesos comes in handy.) Don’t pay full price! During my shopping excursions, I was able to negotiate anywhere from 40 - 60% off. I was pretty aggressive (tip: be firm and pull out those pesos to show you mean business) so I can’t guarantee this will work for everyone but give it a try!
Feliz compra!
