Best Place to Start a Ceramic Zoo

Lions and tigers and bears! Giant fish, monkeys and hares! A stable full of crafted clay and ceramic animals greets curious shoppers at Curiosidades de Mexico, a northwest Denver coffer of crafts, housewares, religious objects, rugs, furniture and art from south of the border. Fancy a trout planter or a donkey chimenea? Head upstairs, where the merchandise ranges from the small -- say, some sculpted grapes from Guadalajara -- to the very large -- as in a Mexico City-style casita bar, complete with stools and built-in tequila racks. Bright, friendly and reasonably priced, Curiosidades is a wonder.