Instead, they head to San Angel Inn, just a few blocks from the Bazar del Sabado and across the street from the cranberry coloured building that had been Diego Rivera's studio. Mariachi players in pea-green jackets put on melodramatic faces as they stroll through the crowded, dimly lit dining room. Out in the courtyard, dark-suited men murmur importantly into cellular telephones. Gordon and Inge Haynes sip bowls of smooth artichoke soup and mull the possibilities. The secret is to wait until Sunday, when many of the same artists go across town to the Jardin del Arte, or Garden of Art, in Sullivan Park, two blocks from the Reforma-Insurgents.
Teenagers line up to buy cotton candy from a pushcart.
A young man in a denim jacket points to a carving of a frog-like face. And so the bargaining begins. The Italian wags an index finger. Miller waves his arms. The Italian pretends to walk away.