I always enjoy visiting local markets: you find the freshest and most delicious fruits, vegetables, bread, sweets, nuts – really, anything you can think of. And at the same time you’ll most definitely be surprised by some crazy things or dishes you’ve never seen before. It’s always a little adventure to go and explore the food and typical ingredients of the locals, plus: prices are unbeatable! Every time I go to a market, I wish I was actually living in my own apartment somewhere in the city, so I could go and buy fresh ingredients every day to cook amazing local dishes myself. Unfortunately we’re not allowed to use the kitchen at the hostel to cook ourselves, so I’ll just have to stick to buying dried fruits, nuts, fresh fruit & sweets, which I am also perfectly fine with. My sweet tooth always gets satisfied while travelling ;)

So it did again this time when I was visiting San Pedro Market. I couldn’t help but get myself the best dried Mango I’ve ever had & it was really hard passing all the nut and fruit stands without buying everything they had. The bread ladies let us try their different breads, which surprisingly all tasted really sweet but of course super good. When we got to the back of the market hall, we started smelling delicious soups and dishes, offered at the different food stalls where a lot of locals seemed to enjoy their lunch as well. You can almost always find all the local specialities, beverages & things you really need to try before leaving the country here, so you shouldn’t let that opportunity go by! On our visit, we tried the “Chicha Morada”, a famous Peruvian drink made from purple corn. More specialities to be tried soon.

Of course you should always be careful with the food at markets (maybe go for the cooked option instead of raw, make sure they use bottled water to prepare smoothies and juices, etc.) but in my opinion it’s the best you can find & you should definitely give it a try. And let’s be honest: you don’t want to go home, saying you only had Burgers & Sandwiches, while you were in Peru.

The entrance to San Pedro Market – gate to heaven

All the bread tastes really sweet, almost like dessert pastry dough

Quinoa & chia cost about half of what you pay for it in Europe: 300g chia seeds only cost 5 soles, which is equivalent to 1,35€ – at home one pays 2,99€

“Chicha Morada” – a sweet Peruvian beverage made from purple corn and spices. It tastes like some kind of very sweet lemonade & is served in bags like these, if you want it to go

Once you exit the market, there are still many people sitting on the side of the street, selling fruits, vegetables & meat

Of course there are also a lot of stores & stalls selling guinea pigs, the Peruvian delicacy

—disregarding all concerns once again, I got some street food between San Pedro Market & the Black Market: Ceviche to go

Ceviche without Ceviche (the fish sauce), just with the sides of rice, salad, sweet potato & a piece of fried fish