Cusco Local Tastes and Flavors

We will pick you up at your hotel at 8:30am and then take a local bus to San Jeronimo which will take about 25 minutes. Here, we will tour the markets where they sell fruits, vegetables, chickens, flowers, and gardening supplies. We will taste fruits and vegetables unique to Peru such as passion fruit, lucma and chirimoya. We will also learn about the ingredients needed to make chicha, a corn beer that has been an important part of Peruvian culture since Inca times. After visiting the local market, we will visit a local chicheria, and taste chicha and see the guinea pigs that live in the kitchens of many locals. 

We will then return to the city center for lunch (own expense) in a local restaurant and taste traditional Peruvian food. After lunch, we will visit the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales de Cusco, which is a non-profit organization founded to support the long standing tradition of weaving in Peru and to help the locals that produce them. There is a small but excellent museum which will teach us about the history of weaving, and you can also see live demonstrations of weaving and have a chance to purchase beautiful products. 

Finally, we will walk to the San Pedro market where in addition to fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses, they sell things such as frog soup which is reportedly a medication for anemia, and also sheep's head soup which is used to fortify your health. We will also learn about and see medicinal plants that have been around since Inca times and are still in use today.