Pollo, Verduras, Arroz- Oh My!

Peruvian markets tend to be crazy, and our most recent experience at Hermelinda, Trujillo’s enormous local market was by far the most impressive market I have seen in Peru. Ian and I are on the food committee for Camp ALMA this weekend, so we were in charge of forming a menu and shopping list to feed 60 people for 3 days. Determining the quantity of rice, meat, vegetables, spices, and supplies for Peruvian recipes was quite an undertaking, but we finalized a menu and arrived at Hermelinda armed with our very explicit list of groceries. Fortunately we were accompanied by Chabela, a senora from Ian’s town who turned out to be an absolute life saver. The market is divided into sections, each exploding with mountains of fresh produce and supplies and swarming with experienced shoppers carefully selecting their purchases.

We began in the produce section, and continued throughout the expansive warehouses with bags full of fruits and vegetables. Ian looked like Santa Claus with his enormous market bag swung over his back as we bartered for fair prices on the next item. We literally purchased hundreds of pounds of vegetables, and eventually enlisted the help of a wheelbarrow to transport our groceries to our next location. Buying food in Hermelinda is a delicate science, and Chabela knew exactly which vendor had the highest quality and lowest price merchandise. After several hours of shopping and lugging our gigantic bags around the market, we piled into a taxi with our hundreds of pounds of foods and congratulated each other on an impressive shopping trip in a truly local Peruivan market.

At the risk of giving you too much personal information, I will relay my next experience at Hermelinda that was somewhat less pleasant. Having completed the bulk of our shopping on Wednesday, we returned on Friday to purchase our meat and final odds and ends. Unfortunately, the night before I had eaten Ceviche that didn’t set too well. I woke up at 3am throwing up and continued to throw up throughout the night. I had make my way to Hermelinda to meet Ian and finish our shopping, so I literally drug myself onto the combi and headed to Trujillo. Of course the combi was packed, and I had a child and old woman literally on my lap. Luckily for them I managed to refrain from throwing up all over them. I finally arrived at Hermelinda and was grateful for a breath of fresh air, until I entered the meat section and was overwhelmed with all the smells you can all imagine. We selected our chickens while they were still alive and weighed them in this huge crate, as they were still pecking around. I don’t know how I managed to pull myself together, but I made it through the process of not only selecting our meat, but watching them be de-feathered and chopped up. Needless to say, I was quite happy to escape the market and the many smells that accompany it.