Pisac Market

Pisac [1] has evolved into one of the biggest, certainly the most famous, artesanía markets in all of South America. The Pisac Market begins every day at 9 a.m. when the first tour buses arrive from Cusco [2] and winds down around 5 p.m. when the last tourists leave.

The town’s main square is filled wall-to-wall with stalls selling the full range of Peruvian artesanía: carved gourds (mates burilados), ceramics, felt hats, alpaca sweaters and mittens, musical instruments, paintings, antiques, a huge variety of trinkets, and, most of all, weavings and jewelry.

Even if you are not buying, the café balconies overlooking the market offer superb people-watching: Hundreds of camera-toting tourists, from every conceivable country on earth, haggle with Quechuan-speaking merchants. Quality tends to be in the low to middle range—the good stuff is found in the homes of the artesanos themselves or in upscale city galleries—but, after a bit of bargaining, prices can be very reasonable, especially if buying in quantity.

Though touristy beyond belief, the Pisac Market has a remarkably deeper side that is rooted in its colonial past and has proven resilient to mass tourism. On Sunday only, campesinos from surrounding villages set up a barter market, or mercado de treque, which is an ancient Peruvian custom and an interesting example of the informal economies upon which highlanders depend.

Quechuan-speaking Indians sit behind huge piles of potatoes, carrots, herbs, and other vegetables in one corner of the square. They sell these products to buy essentials (salt, sugar, kerosene, matches, medicines) but also trade to acquire other foods, such as oranges from the Quillabamba Valley. It exists side-by-side with the Pisac market but ends by 3 p.m. so that villagers can walk home before dark.

Also on Sunday only, masses in Quechua are held at 6 and 11 a.m. in San Pedro Apóstol de Pisac, the colonial church on the main square that was rebuilt after the 1950 earthquake. The early mass is held for townspeople, and the later one is reserved for the varayocs and regidores (elected mayors and their appointed deputies) of the 13 villages that are a two- to five-hour walk away through the mountains.

After mass, the officials proceed around the square in their Sunday best before baptisms, and sometimes a wedding, are held in the church. Between services, it is possible to enter the church for a glimpse at the Inca foundations and an interesting collection of colonial paintings.