If you want a crazy experience, you should head to “el mercado” in Trujillo on the weekend. I have been to many markets in foreign countries but never one like this. The market is outdoors and probably takes up the equivalent of 10 square blocks. Everything is sold here (clothes, food, electronics, etc.) and it is set up like a regular store as there is the clothing street, the meat street, etc. However, it is not calm like a regular store, but instead it’s sensory overload! From the sheer quantity of food being sold to the people shouting about why to buy their items to the crowds of people shopping to the merchants pushing giant wheelbarrows to bring more food to the tons of cars and trucks in the outlying streets honking non-stop- a part of me found it fascinating and another part of me hoped that I didn’t get trampled alive! Here’s a peek at some of what I experienced…

Here are the bananas, and this is just one small section as there are two full streets of vendors simply selling bananas.

Who knew there were so many types of potatoes? There are streets and streets of people just selling multiple varieties of potatoes.

The meats are not refrigerated so instead they butcher it and immediately hang the meat as a sign that it is fresh.

And the chickens… No doubt they are fresh as the chicken butcher (not sure what else to call him) takes a live chicken and first smacks it on the head. He then puts it upside down in a metal cone with the head sticking out where he severs the neck of the chicken letting it bleed out until it dies. Then, he pull off the feathers, cuts it down the middles, and hangs it up for you to buy. Believe it or not, the whole process takes about 1 minute- I don’t think you can get fresher than that!

And finally, doesn’t everyone need a pig’s head… Yes- the market is a crazy place!