Cusco: Mercado Central de San Pedro

Cusco: Part I, Part II

Mercado Central de San Pedro is only a few minutes away from Plaza de Armas. It’s where you’ll find fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, cheese, and a variety of deliciously looking produce alongside restaurant stalls using the very same ingredients to make traditional Peruvian food. Though I can’t compare prices, I happily purchased a giant avocado for 1 PEN. One section of the market is just a row of juice bars, highly tempting, but a tight schedule to meet our group didn’t allow us to try anything.

Cusco: Food, coffee, and a roasted guinea pig

Cusco: Part I 

Hostal Pascana
Calle Awaqpinta #539
Hostal Pascana was a quaint little place that was booked for us during our brief stay in Cusco. The breakfasts are simple, usually bread with jam and butter alongside coffee or tea. At 3 PEN (Peruvian money) extra, they are more than willing to make you eggs to order.

Cafe Ricchary
Calle Concebidayoq
Touted as the best place to get coffee in Cusco, our guide took us there during our afternoon tour. We had the cappuccino, cafe mocha, an americano, and of course, I ordered a cortado. The beans are organic, coming from the Peruvian andes, and are grown and roasted by the owners themselves.

Granja Heidi
Cuesta San Blas #525
A German owned restaurant catering to European patrons who seemed to be either ex-pats or tourists looking for familiar dishes. Though I wasn’t specifically looking to eat there, it ended up being our lunch choice after we failed to find the quinta I wanted to try. (Turns out we were on the wrong street!) We had the lunch special, which was…spaghetti.

Nuna Rami
Calle Triunfo #356
Peruvian food, finally! While I had the roasted cuy (guinea pig), others opted for less adventurous options such as quinoa salads and chicken in yellow chilli sauce. You’re probably wondering what the cuy tasted like. It was similar to pork, but, it didn’t taste like pork entirely…maybe a bit sweeter. The skin was quite good.

The street food in Cusco seemed pretty diverse. To my disappointment, there were no ceviche stands – I was told these are usually found in Lima and the coastal regions of the country. However, there were carts selling what looked like breads, pastries, churros, popcorn, and yoguis, which are Peruvian-style corn dogs that replaces the corn batter with waffle!

Next up: Cusco’s market.

Cusco: 3400 metres above sea level

Peru. Cusco. The Sacred Valley. The Andean highlands. The mountains. The colours! I don’t know where to even begin. Not only did my friend and I get to stay in the prettiest (and most touristy) area of the city, a mere fives minutes away from the Plaza de Armas, but we were there during the week the city was celebrating Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun). Despite my best efforts to try to squeeze in some history, I must admit that I spent that one day and half we got to stay in the city mostly shopping and asking for agua caliente. My friend, however, did go to see the Sacsahuaman ruins from afar though. I, not feeling so well (I had a stomach ache before leaving Toronto and it never settled throughout the trip), waited for her at the bottom of the steps and chatted with the guards and a guide who was pretty close to getting me to go horseback ridding along the site. Next time, eh?

Cusco was the capital city of the Incan Empire. Despite having more than 90% of its original buildings destroyed or built over, there are still remnants of Incan stones here and there. I absolutely loved it, but I also loved everything on the trip. The colonial architecture and the cobbled stones were especially nice, as were the hundreds of shops selling the most colourful goods. Though I can’t speak much about the food (I will do a little post about that later though), I did notice that there were lots of canteen stands catering to kids looking for some after school snacks.

I’m going back. Someday.