Article# 3 - La Paz, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco Shoppers’ Paradise La Paz, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco are traditional holiday destinations for all kinds of boaters fleeing to Mexico’s warm waters -- trailerboaters, sport anglers, long-range cruisers, and even fly-in yacht charterers. Besides the usual fishing, diving and gunkholing, these three Mexican ports are great places to have fun soaking up the local culture while shopping for a few unique hecho en Mexico holiday gifts for family and friends back home. I’ve spent many an enjoyable holiday season in Latin America. Here are my own tips on where to go and what to look for: Mercados and Plazas La Paz, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco each has a well-loved plaza and municipal mercado. A mercado is simply a collection of tiny shops licensed to operate under one roof -- often covering a city block. Entrepreneurs sell everything from basketloads of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers to handmade arts and crafts, festival foods and costumes. Even small towns in Latin America have at least one plaza or town square, built around a zocalo -- a central statue or fountain. Taking up most of a city block, the larger plazas are surrounded by walking gardens, park benches clustered under shade trees, sidewalk cafes with umbrellas and at least one church or cathedral. While the mercado may be the commercial center, the plaza lies at the heart of social traditions. It’s where the real locals hang out. Guitarists, street performers and dance troops perform for tips, while strolling vendors sell fragrant coffees and pastries from hand carts, along with candy and balloons for children. Teens giggle under the watchful eye of their chaperones. The older “dons” puff cigars while getting their shoes shined, faces shaved and hair cut. The older “doñas” cover their heads with huge scarves as they shuttle between Catholic masses. Acapulco’s plaza and Cathedral Central are right on the harbor, a mile northeast of the marina district on the malecon or harbor boulevard. Its Mercado Municipal is four blocks northeast of the plaza cathedral. In Puerto Vallarta, the main plaza and crowned cathedral overlook Banderas Bay, about five miles southeast of the marina harbor, and its Mercado Cuale is four blocks inland on the north side of Isla Cuale. La Paz’s main plaza and cathedral are in the center of town on the crest of the hill overlooking La Paz harbor, and its Mercado Municipal lies a few blocks southwest. Holiday Events During December, the plaza’s church bells announce special events several times a day, and special Christmas foods are sold in the plaza and mercado. You’re likely to encounter a colorful procession starting and ending in the plaza; a statue of the Virgin of Guadelupe (patron saint of Mexico) is carried around town on the shoulders of parishioners who wear traditional costumes and wooden masks. The parade route is decorated with pine boughs, tissue-paper snowflake banners, candle luminaries and fresh flowers. Fireworks, food and music are part of the procession. It usually ends after dark with a traditional Christmas play about the Moors in Spain. One can’t help but notice how many ancient Aztec and Mayan religious rituals from pre-Columbian Mexico were blended into European church customs. During another December evening tradition called the Posada, locals carry lighted candles, tamales and Christmastime-only delicacies from house to house, ending at the plaza church. Cultural Arts There’s a lot more to see in Mexico’s shops than trinkets and souvenirs. Many well-respected arts and crafts can be found, with a variety of special items brought to market just for the holiday season. Talavera pottery is handmade only in the towns of Puebla, Guanajuato and Oaxaca. It originated in Talavera de la Reina, Spain, incorporating 16th century Arabic and Italian motifs. Talavera dinnerware sets and serving bowls are very popular gifts, routinely mailed back to the U.S. and Canada. The other best-known collectable pottery is called Tonala. Smoothly rounded animal figures are crafted from a special clay found only near Guadalajara, decorated in ochre and gray cross-hatch patterns, then muted under a whitish matte overglaze. While this Tonala style is imitated widely, a real Tonala piece can be relatively expensive. True Tonala pottery is never angular, shiny or made to hold food. A classic Christmas gift is a ceramic creche, or set of nativity figures. The only creche more highly prized than one from Tonala would be a black clay creche. Ancient Zapotec culture used iron-rich clays and wood-fired reduction kilns, then burnished the surface by hand to create a rich metallic black sheen. The creche negra is still crafted in Oaxaca by Zapotec potters. More colorful and modern, each whimsical copal animal is formed from a twisted branch of blond copal wood, then painted in bright stripes or polka dots. Sometimes, figures are given surrealistic tails, manes and feathers of sisal or horse hair. Historically, the copal critters were placed on family alters on All Soul’s Day. The best copal figures are made in the villages of Arrazola, San Martin Tilcajete and Xoxocotlan. But you’ll see them in the mercados and plazas of La Paz, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. The popular “tree of life” was originally a candle holder made by the village elder and given as a wedding gift to young couples. With an Adam and Eve theme, the number of candles in the holder was said to predict how many children the couple would have. Traditionally made of dark terra cotta clay and shaped something like a fig leaf, the brighter trees of life are painted wood. They can be huge and intricate, and some are made horizontal, like Jewish menorahs. Glass-beaded huichol sculptures are made by young artists in the Sierra Madre of Nayarit, and they find their way to better shops in Puerto Vallarta and La Paz. Unlike traditional string paintings, this new glass-bead form of huichol sculpts three-dimensional frogs, flowers and masks, covered in swirling patterns of tiny but brilliantly colored glass beads. Keña and Adriña, the daughters of master artist Francisco Bautista Carrillo, have perfected this modern offshoot from the ancient art form. Look for their signatures. Other gift ideas range from the artistic to the whimsical. Jimmy Buffett’s papier mache parrot on a swing was hecho en Mexico -- and what dock fiesta is complete without a Santa piñata? If you have time, a vessel’s name board can be custom made in colorful Mexican ceramic tiles. Galley Gifts Pewter serving dishes shaped like arching seabass or round crabs make great galley gifts. And here are some other gift ideas for the holiday galley: Noche Buena beer, brewed by Dos Eqqus only at Christmas; sweet tamales steamed in banana leaves rather than corn husks, especially found in Acapulco and southward; intricately carved molinillo chocolate stirrers used as whisks; pure vanilla (double strength, no alcohol); Ibarra or Abuela brands of chocolate containing cinnamon and brown sugar; cast aluminum garlic presses or tortilla presses; alabaster molcates, or tiny mortar and pestle sets used for crushing herbs and seeds; braids of dried red and green chile pods; and braids of fresh garlic. My wife, Pat, makes Mexican Christmas hors d’oeuvres -- alternating slices of red candied sweet potato, green candied cactus fruit and salty white regional cheeses. These foods can be found in all the mercados. Arbol de Navidad Blown glass Christmas tree ornaments are made in Guadalajara, and some are made very much like the old Victorian ones. In La Paz, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, vendors with propane torches fashion drawn glass ornaments while you wait. Using tin snips and translucent paints, artisans all over Mexico make Christmas tree ornaments this time of year. Ones that are perfect for fellow mariners include ornaments shaped like boats, mermaids, angel fish, lobsters, ship’s wheels, anchors -- and even sharks. Straw ornaments range from intricate angels to top the tree, to tiny stars for decorating gift packages. The holiday season in Latin America is much less commercial than most gringos have grown accustomed to. And that can be very refreshing, indeed.