La Cancha, food & drink

On Saturday we went to La Cancha (just south of the city centre) which is the largest market in Bolivia. We walked around with Carolina and a few others for two hours straight, and we saw about 1/8th of the whole thing. They sell just about everything imaginable, and it is incredibly crowded, chaotic, and full of smells (good & bad). La Cancha is organized into rough sections, with everything from baby products, pet products, appliances, electronics, new clothes, used clothes, shoes, boots, cds, dvds, musical instruments, artesanial products, and any type of food available.

The food sections were probably the most interesting, with huge cow tongues on display, alongside brains, hearts, kidneys, intestine, dried llama fetuses (not for eating), and an amazing selection of fruits and vegetables. We have been loving the food here, and I have even been enjoying some of the potatoes. We have different types of freshly squeezed fruit juice every day. My favorite so far is probably the pineapple juice.

The (traditional) meals are as follows: for breakfast we have fresh buns with butter and freshly made jam, to drink we usually have coca tea. I love coffee, but I think I now prefer coca tea. You get a nice kick, like coffee, but without any jitteriness of caffiene. It is also very healthy (good for digestion and lowers blood pressure) and like I have mentioned several times already, it is the absolute best protection against altitude sickness.

For lunch (the biggest meal of the day) we start off with a bowl of soup filled with potatoes, some kind of rice or pasta, carrots, peas, a piece of beef, and I always add a couple spoonfuls of the freshly made hot sauce which is present on every table (whether in a home or restaurant). For main course we usually have freshly & finely chopped salad with tomatoes, onions, radishes, sometimes beans, lettuce, and I don´t usually like salad without dressing, but the vegetables are so fresh and tasty it is just fine here. We also have some type of meat, (it could be fried, cooked, barbequed) and a side of fried plantains, or oka (sweet potato like a yam), and always half a potato. There is always some kind of freshly squeezed fruit juice as well.

For dinner we have had a range of meats and pastas or potatoes, with a small salad on the side. We have had most of meals in the last week at our homestay family, this extremely hospitable and very friendly older couple, but when we go out we have generally get traditional meals as well. If we just go to a restaurant for drinks, we usually get the guacamole, because the avacados are always the perfect tenderness, and the taste is delicious. The beer here is available in small bottles or cans like in Canada, but generally you have a choice between a 620ml bottle or a 1 litre bottle. I prefer the 1 litre bottle. It just looks more substantial.

This week, when we haven´t gone out, Emily and I head down to a neighbourhood tienda (like a small corner store) and we get a 1 litre bottle of Taquiña, which is locally produced beer. They also give you glasses, because you can drink the bottle right there at the local community park, where many of the kids and families in the neighbourhood gather at night. It is an idyllic setting.