Manualidades, or My First Visit to a Craft Store in Mexico

I’ve been to Mexico several times and I’ve seen many things including stunning natural areas, cemeteries, lots of malls, and more restaurants than I can count, but I have never been to a craft store. In preparation for my niece’s bid for Miss Earth Mexico, my sister-in-law and I went to a craft store. We’d already spent a long morning running errands and I wasn’t paying much attention as we pulled up. The entrance didn’t indicate there’d be much of interest inside, but I should have known, a field trip can begin anywhere.

Upon stepping inside, Day of the Dead-themed fabric greeted me and I was suddenly awake. I reached out to examine it and a store employee was already cutting a couple of yards for me. I felt like a Crafty Cinderella stepping out of her pumpkin. There were colors and sparkle everywhere!

While one of the clerks helped my sister-in-law find the craft sticks we needed for the pageant signs,  I wandered off in a craft-induced haze, feeling the fabric, checking the prices, taking pictures, and of course, trying to figure out how to fit some of it in my suitcase.

The store itself wasn’t so different from the craft stores I go to in Green Bay.  In fact, it was enormously comforting to walk into a store so familiar during a week full of  new pageant experiences and language faux pas.  In the end, I left with only the Day of the Dead fabric, dozens of photos and a smile. As we got in the car to leave, I was already dreaming up what to make with my new fabric (and planning to bring a bigger suitcase on my next visit).