Street Vendors

Oct. 12, 2007

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Mexico City. Its roots are ancient and perennial. Along every major street you can buy just about anything you want - from food to batteries to porn to hair ribbons - in stands, covered by tarps, that are set up and removed daily. This can be viewed as a convenience or a nuisance, depending on your needs. Do you want to walk down the sidewalk to your destination or do you need to buy something ASAP on your way to work? We live very near the Eje Central, one of the major cross-city routes, which is replete with vendors. Because this is also in the Centro Historico and near the Zocalo, the Eje Central has been targeted for a street clean-up. Vendors have been put on notice that they have to close shop and move to plazas that the city government has set aside for them. Since street vendors have plied these streets since pre-Hispanic times, there is much resistance to the idea. It should be interesting to see how this situation develops. Also hard to decipher, since the clean-up starts now, mid-October, but with a reprieve for the Christmas season. Stay posted!