A visit to a (real) market
Thursday in Spanish class we had a field trip. Ricardo, our Spanish teacher, offered to take Elizabeth and I (the only two in the class) on an excursion to the local market, Molino. Elizabeth and I thought it would be great to go and see it so we agreed with Ricardo’s proposal. To the tourists and visitors Molino is known as the black market because it is possible to buy, amongst other things, pirated copies of movies and CDs. It is also the place where the locals shop for goods and produce. So at 10am, our usual class time, we headed out of Maximo, piled into a cab and headed over to the market which is located near the airport. If you could say that Cusco has a mall, this would be it.
The entrance to the market.
The market turned out to be huge and separated into two parts. The front part, Molino 1, was all under one roof in an open air building, and consisted of any and every kind of item you might wish or need to purchase. There were four or five long rows of stall after stall after stall of everything you can imagine. The rows were narrow and some shuffling had to occur when passing people moving in the opposite direction. Many of the vendors had their kids present with them therefore also in the aisles were sometimes small children sitting or playing providing another obstacle as you tried to navigate through the narrow paths. Each vendor, with their small stall, stuffed to the brim with goods, appeared to have the ability to secure it at night by means of a big blue garage-like door which could be closed and locked with the merchandise safely inside.
Just upon entering the market. Elizabeth and Ricardo ware in front of me.
Walking down the aisles I saw lots of clothes (for all – men, children, women), shoes, household goods, plastics, decorative items, dishes and kitchen equipment, electronics, a cigarette stall, presents and gift items, CDs, movies, toys, party items were represented. The list is endless. It was a bit overwhelming since the number and variety of merchandise was so great. There were no tourist items, this was strictly a place that you went searching for the everyday items required for life, not to look for souvenirs.
There were several aisles that looked like this - jammed packed with stuff and tricky to navigate in a crowd.
The market reminded me a bit of a similar market in Moscow back when I first went there in 1998. For those of you reading this who have been to Moscow, if you recall the big “outdoor Kmart” behind the touristy Izmalyavia market, then you will have a pretty good idea of what Molina looked like. The market here in Cusco, however, had a much more permanent feel to it than the one in Moscow. The market was busy despite the fact that rain was threatening (and indeed the sky opened up while we were there and it rained heavily for quite some time). As we walked through the market we practiced our Spanish and talked a bit to vendors now and again.
We got to the electronics section and I was surprised to see large flat screen TVs for sale, many of which were turned to the Barcelona/Real Madrid soccer game with a group of men clustered around intently watching. We were tempted to stop and watch too but we only had two hours and the market was big and demanded our attention. It was simply fascinating to walk around and take it all in. We lingered a bit at the music and movies but there was still a lot to see. Finally we managed to wander through all of Molino 1 only to find out that behind it and across the street, in a structure not quite as permanent, but just as big, was Molino 2.
At the party stall they had pinatas for both children and adults!
Molino 2- mainly food and housewares, but very interesting! A little more haphazardly arranged than Molino 1.
Molino 2, it turned out focussed on household items a bit more, but even more interestingly it housed produce, meat, and dry goods stalls. The structure was only partially roofed, the rest of the covering was provided by a patchwork quilt of tarps that looked like they had organically grown as the need to have a roof surfaced. The tarps were of every color and gave the ceiling a sort of festive air. Because it was raining fairly heavily you could see where the seams between the tarps were sufficient against the weather (or not). In one area, where there was clearly a leak through the tarps, someone had placed a small bucket, about the size of a beer bucket, to catch any water getting through. The bucket was indeed doing its job but since it was raining so hard it had filled up and the water was just spilling over it. (So maybe it was not doing its job!) We explored as much of Molina 2 as we could based on where it was covered and I took a lot of pictures of some of the interesting foods but that will be the subject of another post- a discussion of some of the foods.
The carrot cake minus my slice. I have been told where to find a better one so it is on my target list now too.
For those of you following the pastry of the day program I have tried in the last two days a carrot cake and also a tres leches. Actually this was the third tres leches I have tried and by far the best. The carrot cake was very good and not so sweet. We use way more sugar in our deserts in the US than I have found elsewhere in the world and so it had more of a carrot taste rather than an overpowering sweet flavor. It was good but I have been told where to find a better one! Luckily, or not, the shop where I bought this tres leches is very close to Maximo!
Tres Leches. The best one I have had so far.
Friday night I am heading out for the weekend on a tour to Lake Titicaca so my next post will be after getting back from that trip. Others have gone on it and highly recommended it so I decided to go. It should be interesting as it involves a fairly long bus ride, some boating out on the lake to stay with a host family on a floating island and some time in Puno. Stay tuned. (and I know I will still owe you some information about the food at the market)
Hey Sandy! I’ve been enjoying your posts every day and look forward to them. Looks like this market is way better than the Rodgers Flee Market by our lake house (the tile makes it look more upscale). Hope you’re ankle’s better! – Jan