San Pedro Market

The Mercado Central de San Pedro is where Cusco shops, eats breakfast and catches up on news, and a morning here is the best introduction to Andean food you can have. It occupies a large hall with an iron-framed roof a short walk southwest of the Plaza de Armas, next to the church of San Pedro, and it is organized by rows of stalls, each run by vendors who often inherited their places from their mothers. At the front are the juice ladies, with blenders lined up and fruit piled high, who make enormous glasses of papaya, mango, pineapple, passion fruit or mixed juices to order, and hand you a refill from the jug when you finish. Further in are rows of fruit and vegetables that show the astonishing diversity of the Andes: potatoes in many colors and shapes, freeze-dried chuño, giant-kernel white corn, purple corn for chicha morada, quinoa, kiwicha, cherimoya, granadilla, lucuma and tumbo. There are cheese stalls with fresh Andean cheeses, bread sellers with the huge round loaves of Oropesa, a nearby town famous for its bread, butchers, herbalists selling coca leaves, muña and remedies of all kinds, and stalls selling textiles, flowers and household goods. At the back and sides are the food counters, where locals sit on benches for soups, caldo de gallina, chicharron, lomo saltado and menus del dia, set lunches at very low prices. Entry is free, and the market is open daily from early morning until late afternoon. Bring small notes and coins in soles, as cards are rarely accepted, and watch your bag in the crowded aisles.

How to visit: go in the morning, when the produce is fresh and the juice counters are busiest, and come hungry. Start with a juice, wander the produce aisles, then pick a busy food counter for a bowl of soup or a set lunch; the busiest stalls have the freshest food. If you have a sensitive stomach, choose cooked dishes served hot, skip raw salads and ice, and ask for juices without added water if you are worried. A guided market tour or a cooking class that starts with shopping here is an excellent way to learn what everything is, and many Cusco cooking schools include it.

What to try: a mixed fruit juice, chicharron sandwiches, caldo de gallina, a tamal or humita, quinoa soup, fresh cheese with corn, the round breads of Oropesa and, for the adventurous, the stalls selling local specialties that range from cuy dishes to offal. Coca tea and muña tea are widely available and are traditionally drunk to ease altitude symptoms. For souvenirs, the market has good prices on spices, dried corn, chocolate, coffee and inexpensive textiles, though quality varies.

Practical notes: the market is busy and the aisles are narrow, so keep valuables in front pockets and carry only what you need. Photographs are welcome at many stalls, but ask first and buy something if you take pictures of vendors. The streets around the market are busy with traffic and street vendors, and the area is best avoided late at night. Combine the visit with Qorikancha, ten to fifteen minutes away on foot, or with a walk back to the Plaza de Armas through the Santa Clara arch. In the rainy season, the covered hall is a good place to wait out a shower.