Jorge and I were in Pile in the home of a weaver. She had invited us to eat our lunches at her family dining table. We’d brought our lunches with us, knowing it would be a long day and that there are no restaurants in Pile. We bought cold drinks from her, supporting the...
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No Third World sharpie was going to get the better of me. No way. I’d read the guidebooks. I knew I wasn’t supposed to pay full sticker price for anything. Not in Mexico. We were in Mérida, capital of Yucatan, a lovely city with an impressive colonial heritage. But we were not admiring wide...
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Even armchair travelers know that the fixed-price, take-it-or-leave-it retailing that’s the norm in the U.S. is not the way it’s done in many (most?) other countries. Instead, the marked or quoted price is a suggestion, a beginning point, a conversation starter. But if you’ve never shopped like this, you may not be sure how...
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