On the day following our Machu Picchu tour, Oscar transferred us to the Hotel we'd be staying at for our last night in Cusco, The El Puma Hotel. The El Puma looked very modern, and we were told that the El Puma was a relatively new Hotel(this little tidbit was apparent later on). We had a cup of Mate de Coca(Coca Tea), checked our luggage, and started on our way. We were glad that we had an extra day in Cusco, now we could explore and "hit" some of the destinations I had on my list. First on the agenda, Mercado Centro, near the San Pedro Train Station. I hailed a cab, and the Missus did the bargaining…..what we found was, even though several people told us that the standard cab fare was s/2, the going "tourist rate" was s/3, which wasn't much of an issue with us. 3 soles is about $1 US.
The Mercado Central is a large sprawling warehouse like building…
As you wander through the bustling aisles, you can get overwhelmed by the varieties of produce, meats, seafood, and even potatoes!
I've heard the "over three thousand varieties of potatoes" in Peru phrase several times, and after a visit to the Mercado Central, I believe it! One of the more interesting potato products is called Chuño, which are potatoes that are preserved through a natural freeze drying process. Chuño can be softened and rehydrated or ground into a flour for use.
The Missus really enjoyed the variety of fruits.
In order to respect people's space, I only took close-ups under one circumstance….if we purchased something from a vendor, I asked permission, and was given the go ahead every time. Well there was one exception, which I'll go into later.
The Missus was especially taken by the Granadilla, a variety of passion fruit.
In what has to go down as one of the oddest cases of bargaining, after some discussion, the Missus's final offer was 3 for 2 soles, at which time the vendor said, she wanted 2 for 1 soles? Sold! I think the vendor got a bit confused.
The Missus adored the Granadilla…
The interior is full of edible seeds, with sweet, gooey flesh. The Missus bought several more before we left.
Here's the "bread aisle":
Full of fresh baked pan.
The more I looked around me, the more I felt like I'd been "beamed down" into the most amazing supermarket in world…….
About that time, the Missus woke me from my euphoric state with a "oh my god…" What got Her attention this time?
Yep, quail eggs…but just in case you didn't know what it was, there were two of the little critters in a cage on the bottom of the cart. Of course, I don't think they laid those eggs hard-boiled, which is what was being sold. The Missus bought 5(s/1), and proceeded to munch on them. She even offered one of the ladies selling produce a couple…and the lady took Her up on the offer! This got me a few nice produce photos. And yes, the "el papel higiénico" is there for your hands and face. I had always wondered why those toilet paper boxes said "facial quality tissue"…now I knew!
And no market worth its salt would not have an outstanding "meat department"!
There was every possible part and cut of meat, tongue, ears, stomach, heart (anticuchos!!!), you name it.
The most beautiful of them all was this cordero(lamb). Man did it look good! In fact when we were leaving, there was only 1 leg left. Everything else, head, gonads, were gone…..
About this time, hunger pangs set in, so we started looking around for something to eat…which isn't very hard in Mercado Central. Large sections are divided up by type of food or drink served. One section is for the fruit juice vendors:
One section just did breads and sandwiches (pan francais with blood sausage looked mighty fine). Another did cebiches, and a large section specialized in Saltados (stir fries). Check out the price of a Saltado and Soup at this stand:
Yep, 2 soles! The pans of papas fritas, onions, and the like was really hard to turn down. And of course the "cleaning crew" looked like they ate well too! The dogs in the market were obviously well fed:
I wanted something a bit more comforting. So we headed to the Sopas (soups), as I turned the corner I was caught in the net cast by the Sopa de Pollo…chicken soup, and there was no escape. And even though there were at least 20 vendors, each of them showing their "wares"…the mark of a Sopa de Pollo stand, the pan of simmered pollo and aromatics:
There was only one stand, the one in the corner, that was doing "blue light special in the Sopa de Pollo department" business. The crowd was seated three deep.
As we tentatively walked around the stand, the woman behind the stand put up 3 fingers…."3 soles a bowl"($1 US). In a display typical of what we encountered in Cusco, three people in the front row stood up, moved, and waved us to the front bench. And so we had a terrific bowl of Chicken soup, in a large sprawling marketplace, in a land far away, in a city 11,000 feet above sea level…
In the soup's warm embrace, touched by the kindness and generosity of these folks, many of whom don't have much in the way of material things, all I could mumble was "life is good". To which the Missus said, "you're dripping soup all over the place" and proceeded to hand me some facial/toilet tissue to wipe my face. To which She added, "hey, did you notice that they didn't take any chances with you, and gave you the pieces of white meat?" So I looked down at the German Shephard mix sitting right under the bench, sopping up my mess, and whispered; "life is good, ain't it?"
Postscript:
Later on the trip, we were relaxing in our room in Lima, and on one of the channels they were having a No Reservations marathon. And one of the shows was the Peru episode, which we hadn't seen before. It was eerie watching Bourdain walking through the Mercado Central…where we had just been a day or two before! It was even more eerie when they showed the episode with Food Blogger Extraordinaire Eat, Drink, & Be Merry, which turned to laughter because it was dubbed. I later told EDBM about the dubbed episode in a comment, to which he replied:
"Please tell me that the voice was deep, not a pip-squeak or tranny."
Don't worry…..though it was sorta your Sancho Panza to Bourdain's Don Quixote…..