After a flight from Newark to Lima and spending a lovely evening in the Lima Food Court, I took an early flight out to Cusco, which is like the unofficial base camp for anyone that is doing up the Inca Trail and . After a hilarious flight courtesy of Peruvian Airlines (the pilot failed to mention we were landing and I think 30 seconds before we touched down, the flight attendants were scrambling to sit down, get tray tables and seats up) I had a quick taxi ride to my hotel Rumi Punku. Although they offered a complimentary breakfast and I slept all half assed in the Lima Airport
I love markets because are pretty much guaranteed to eat well and for a good price. I have visited many markets and this was one I thoroughly enjoyed and spent a lot of time going back to. First off, this is mainly run by women, they were cooking, selling, butchering and ran the whole show. It was sectioned off too in which there was a meat section, fish, veggies, cheese and of course the cooked food section. I ate a lot of things in this market and during my time in Cusco , probably accounted for 40-50% of my diet here. Many would see this as a bad idea and I was advised by many not to go and eat at the market. I like to think that I am pure awesome retarded and I do not have a regular Gringo stomach like others. However, when it comes to eat in a market or in a non-restaurant setting here are some rules that I created for myself. Volume is better, like do not eat from the random lonely dude or lady because you feel bad that no one is there. You won’t feel bad about them later when you are on the toilet later that night and you did it for some probably crappy food. If there is a line of people, or there is a lot people eating there, you have a better chance of not getting sick. High turnover rate generally means food needs to replenished and is general fresher. Also I avoid raw veggies (no salads) and stick to the meats and the fried stuff. In my experience, these very basic rules kept me out of trouble.
Mercado food Pronz after the jump
