190 LA VIDA international fare, while you’re at it. Fresh nopales, pink pineapples, rambutan, lychee, epazote, loquats. On a single trip you might return home with four different types of mangoes to compare and contrast. Your tea drawer, your salads and your smoothies have never been so cultured. i i i BEST MEXICAN CANDY STORE DULCERIA LA BONITA 2311 N. 35TH AVE. 602-626-8334 AND OTHER VALLEY LOCATIONS LABONITA.STORE Drop us in a faraway land and watch us find a market to sample the local candy. Dulceria La Bonita is technically a warehouse store, but it’s open to the public, and it’s a fasci- nating place to explore the wide range of Mexican sweets — no plane ticket required. Sweet and savory Pulparindo, delicate de La Rosa peanut candy, cajetas — they’re all here, along with countless other treats. We like to fill our basket with the smallest size of things that look interesting, then return later for more of our favorites. Dulceria La Bonita is also a destination for American candies, the pinatas to stuff them in and really anything you’ll need for a party. i i i BEST ONE-STOP SHOP FOR LATINA-OWNED BUSINESSES AMOR COLLECTIVE 1024 N. FIRST AVE. AMORCOLLECTIVEAZ.COM You may not notice Amor Collective from Roosevelt Row. Its entrance is tucked away in the courtyard next to its sister business, Fair Trade Cafe. Inside, the space is a hub for Latina-owned businesses. Customers can pick up dainty jewelry pieces, chunky clay earrings, Mexican-style handcrafted mugs, customized cowboy hats, designer tank tops and even raw honey. The collective is an incubator that aims to empower Latina- owned businesses to get off the ground and thrive through mentoring and coaching. The collective also hosts skill-building work- shops and networking events to support Phoenix-based small business owners. Come for the locally made art and food, for yourself or as a gift. i i i BEST MERCADO MERCADO DE LOS CIELOS 7611 W. THOMAS ROAD 623-849-0647 In classic Mexican market fashion, you can basically find the gamut at the south end of Desert Sky Mall, where more than 200 small vendors run a marketplace that operates like a town square as much as a shopping center. Grab an agua fresca, pass stalls selling quinceañera dresses and phone cases, and land at a counter for tortas or gorditas before you’ve done a single lap around the place. Last November, part of the mall’s roof collapsed during a violent hailstorm. Mercado de Los Cielos closed for exactly one day before reopening, a turnaround that says everything about its spirit and its essential role in the West Valley. Its quality doesn’t owe to scale alone. It’s that those 200 inde- pendent business owners, not a monolithic corporate tenant, decide what belongs on the shelves. i i i BEST PLACE TO PRACTICE YOUR BEGINNER SPANISH LOTERÍA NIGHT DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN 1201 N. GALVIN PKWY. 480-941-1225 DBG.ORG Lotería is a bingo-style game, popular in Mexico, in which players match the card that’s called to an illustrated square on their board, or tabla. The pictures include