Two for one Margarita?

Strolling up the street from the hotel it is mostly cafes, restaurants, and gift shops. I get the feeling this place has seen busier days. And reading the hotels blurb they skite about such visitors as Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Gregory Peck and it kinda ends there. Traders pounce on me, and invite me in to their stores to look. I can see it's mostly the same product in every store, and a lot of the stuff is pretty tacky. But I do wander into one or two. I admire a ring in one shop and the shop keeper is quick to take it out of the display case and put it on my finger, assuring me it's silver and a real stone, over and over. The ring is nice but the silver is so thin I suspect it would actually cut my finger when wearing it. She says I can have it for $85 but I'm not keen and so then she suggests she get her daughter to go get the ring weighed so she can determine her best price. It goes down to $60. I'm still not keen. She asks me to name my price. I insist I'm just going to think about it. $45 she tells me, because she wants to make her first sale. But I'm still not keen, I know I could get something similar at a market for half that. This battler has not made her first sale.
And it is like that at every store.
All the lanes to my left head down to the beach. I see a photo opportunity and head down one. A gentleman who'd been leaning against a post on the corner drinking a cup of coffee follows me. This is where everyone's warnings of imminent danger kick in. I take my photo and quickly head back to the main street, a shiver down my spine and it's only 10am. The next lane doesn't look so dingy so I head down thinking I'll walk back to the hotel along the beach, get away from the relentless hawkers. But no, this is where it really begins and I see that there is no such thing here for a trader to sit back and wait for you to come to them. All along the beach there are little drink stalls, the vendors call out as I pass, juice? Margarita? Two for one margarita? And remember it's still just after 10.
I head for the big long pier that is directly in front of my hotel (pics to come) I see there is a security person at the start of the pier, many of the hotels have security lurking at their entries. As I pass him he calls me back, I must have a ticket he says. Wow, they don't miss a trick. I realize the pier must be the hotels property so I show him my keycard and he lets me pass. At the end are a whole lot of people fishing. I look in some of the buckets and at least they are catching some for their money.
Later I head back down the street for some lunch. I have potato and cheese soup and a Sol beer. It's going down pretty well. From my table I can see a band of musicians coming down the street. I know they are musicians because they are carrying their instruments. It looks like they are going to set up in front of me. Cool. One asks me, you like music? I smile, yes thanks. He asks me for money. Now I know I'm in a different country and all but my idea of busking is for me to throw money in a hat if I like the music, and I do - if I like it. I'm a bit thrown and my first reaction is to say no thanks to the price he is asking, but once they have left I regret saying no because I'm sure with a double base, an accordion, and a little drum they probably would have been shit hot, but they are gone. The funny thing is they just head straight back to where they came from which was a club on the other side of the intersection, not as I would have thought, off down the street to try their luck at another of the many cafes. So I'm sitting there thinking, did the restaurant owner give them a quick call... Hey amigos, I've got an eat pray love type sitting in my cafe, just ripe for fleecing, come on over and try your luck?? or am I being cynical? Or am I actually getting a bit worldly wise?

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