After this, it was time to buy chicken and the few things that we missed at the Mayorista yesterday.
Chicken is probably the staple protein of this city. Pork specialty dishes notwithstanding, it's what's most common on lunch menus and in kitchens throughout the Sierra. We've bought ours at Puro Pollo for going on 10 years now; this is a big farm that specializes in organic field hens. It's really good and quite inexpensive.
Across the street is the Mercado Central, one of the city's oldest covered markets. The current building dates from about 1950, and many of the vendors have had their stalls inside since it opened; the average age of a stallholder here is close to 70.
The Central also is where Gloria, my supplier of lamb and kid goat, has her shop. Gloria sells between 5 and 7 lambs a day, in various cuts.
The Central has recently been given a facelift, although the internal structure is largely unchanged.
There's street food outside as well, like this vendor who has chunks of fritada and sweet oca (a traditional Andean tuber)
The Mercado Central is right across the street from the Mercado de Flores, where the bulk of the city's fresh cut flowers are sold.
