Shop Your Way Around the World: Cusco's Market Molina
We here at Yahoo Travel love to shop. We are market mavens, and in this series, we bring you the best markets from all over the world, what to buy, and how to navigate them.
Cusco Market (Flickr/Pedro Szekely)
What: Mercado Molina
Where: Cusco, Peru
Located: Down the hill from the Mercado Central, which, while full of locals, is bustling with tourists. The local market is a shopping valhalla — full of trinkets, clothes, and rugs.
An alpaca blanket (Photo: Flickr/mkbrandt)
What to Buy: Baby alpaca skins. No, really. They are sewn together into bedspread size and are the perfect gifts. I got two for $300 and lined them with cashmere for myself and my best friend. They are the warmest, softest, chicest blankets ever. In the main market you may find a few, but they will be sewn into super cheesy shapes of llamas or alpacas and usually done as round floor rugs. The selection, shape, and size of the skins found in the Mercado Molina is far superior.
Coca leaves (Photo: Flickr/Pierre Pouliquin)
Fun fact: Watch out for altitude sickness. It’s a killer — sometimes literally. I had never experienced it before Cusco and it hit me full on in this market. I was haggling over some skins and was felled by the worst migraine ever. I passed out and woke up to shopkeepers shoving wads of coca leaves in my mouth. Yes, coca leaves, which is what cocaine is made of. The leaves themselves are stimulants and all Peruvians in high altitudes chew on them. They are the only thing that cured my altitude sickness.
Cusco Market masks (Photo: Flickr/kthypryn)
Beyond the skins, this market is a Mecca of cultural curios. The Incan culture is shaman-based, so there are a lot of bizarre things like alpaca and llama fetuses and slightly gross smelly animal bits and bobs laying about. Fascinating, but not allowed through U.S. customs. Things that are customs-friendly include masks, puppets, sweaters, and trinkets. Just don’t bring back the bag of coca leaves.
Want more like this? Follow us on Facebook andTwitter so that we can inspire you every day.
