Mercado Central, Mercado Campesino & Chocolates Para Ti Food Guide

Just three blocks north of Plaza 25 de Mayo between Calle Junín, Calle Ravelo, and Calle Hernando Siles stands the two-storey Mercado Central de Sucre, one of the cleanest, brightest, and most welcoming municipal markets in the Andes. Pairing a morning walk through its colour-coded aisles with a visit to Sucre's century-old chocolate houses is the most delicious way to experience everyday life in the White City.

1. Inside Mercado Central: Juice Blenders, Api con Pastel & Upstairs Comedores

• The Famous Ground-Floor Fruit & Smoothie Aisle (Sector Jugos): Because Chuquisaca straddles the transition between cool Andean highlands and warm subtropical valleys, the ground floor of Mercado Central overflows with papayas, chirimoyas (custard apples), passionfruit (maracuyá), Andean blackberries (mora), strawberries, mangoes, and prickly pears (tuna). Pull up a stool at one of the numbered blender counters where caseritas in white aprons whip up giant glasses of fresh fruit juice or milkshakes (licuados) and always pour a complimentary top-up glass called the yapa.
• Early-Morning Api con Pastel & Midday Chorizo Stalls: On chilly mornings, head to the breakfast stalls for a steaming mug of api morado (thick spiced purple-corn drink flavoured with cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel) paired with a puffy fried cheese pastel or buñuelo drizzled with cane syrup. By 10:30, the upstairs balcony and ground-floor sausage counters sizzle with authentic chorizos chuquisaqueños, mondongo, and sopa de maní (creamy peanut soup crowned with shoestring fries).

2. Mercado Campesino & Sucre's Historic Chocolate Houses (Para Ti & Taboada)

• Mercado Campesino (Rural Producers' Market): Twenty minutes' walk (or a short microbus ride) north-east of the colonial grid spreads the vast multi-block Mercado Campesino, where farmers from the Chuquisaca valleys sell braided ropes of dried red ají chillies, dozens of native potato varieties, toasted corn (tostado), and woven baskets.
• Chocolates Para Ti & Chocolates Taboada: Back in the historic centre on Calle Arenales 7 (half a block off Plaza 25 de Mayo) and along Calle Nicolás Ortiz, step into the flagship boutiques of Chocolates Para Ti (founded 1990) and Chocolates Taboada (founded 1961). Both craft single-origin bars and hand-dipped truffles from wild organic cacao harvested in the Bolivian Amazon, pairing dark chocolate with puffed royal quinoa, spicy Chuquisaca chilli, salt crystals from the Salar de Uyuni, and liquid centres of aged Singani.