Local markets are always a good place to meet the local culture and people. While traveling, they provide a fascinating opportunity to examine differences among cities. For example, moving south through the Andean Plateau from
La Paz down to
Oruro, Sucre and
Potosi would result in finding substantially smaller breads in the markets. Anyone there – even those few without a PhD from the London School of Economics – would explain the nosy visitor that this is a result of moving into poorer areas of
Bolivia.
However, there are other reasons to visit markets. In such a busy capital as Sucre, people don’t really get up before 9AM and coffee shops do not open before 10AM. Thus, the Central Market is a handy place for a breakfast. To make things friendlier, the market is centrally located next to the San Francisco Basilica and thus the breakfast can be combined with a visit to that magnificent church. Actually, in the sixteenth century the market was part of the basilica. The town’s central plaza is also nearby.
Bolivian markets can pose a serious threat to health, but along time I have found that the basic breakfast offered in them – bread, cheese and coffee – is constantly reliable and safe. In Sucre, the bread takes the shape of tiny buns. The round ones are called "sarnas" and usually – in the rest of the country - have a bit of cheese incrusted on their top; here the last is very symbolic, more an atavism than anything else. The set breakfast costs a quarter and includes two buns, a triangular piece of cheese and a sweet coffee. The only cheese available in the Bolivian markets is white, solid, and extra-salty, fact that balances off the coffee over-sweetness. The coffee is what the denizens call "destilado." It is prepared out of a concentrate diluted to fill up a cup; unless warned in advance, the shopkeeper would automatically add two big, overloaded spoons of sugar to it. A children’s (and dentists) Heaven.
Another option for breakfast is to have a healthy fruits juice. Sitting on the broken hills between the Andean Plateau and the Amazonian Basin, Sucre has access to a wide variety of fruits. Papayas, peaches, apples and pomegranates are obvious, but more exotic options exist. Chirimoya (custard apple), tumbo (a fruit resembling huge, solid dates but with a green skin and orange interior), pakai (a long green fruit filled up with sweet, fibrous, white units), tuna (a cactus fruit appearing in green, yellow or red) and maracuya (looks like a soft cousin of the pomegranate) are interesting options for an unusual meal. They can be prepared with water or milk.