El Pochote

El Pochote is two things: a cineclub (it shows free movies Tues-Sun at 6 and 8 pm, Sat matinee) and an organic market (Fri and Sat). Like Estudio Dharma, which is a block away, it's located in the Arquitos neighborhood. The door is hidden under an archway of the aqueduct.

Immediately when you enter, there are stalls selling green leafy vegetables like lettuce, swiss chard, bok choy, and radishes. Continuing to the left are a stall selling homemade goat cheese (chevre covered in pecans, herbed chevre, and chevre covered in ashes, which sounds nasty but is actually delicious) and gouda of 3 different ages); 2 mezcal stands that are very free with samples; an organic shade-grown coffee stand; a chocolate stand; and a dairy stand that sells quesillo, requesón (quesillo is like fresh mozzarella but you can peel it away in fat strips a little like string cheese. Requeso is usually crumbled into tiny tiny curds that look almost like mashed tofu, and is usually flavored with herbs and spices since it's really mild). Some stands are there each week; others are only there sometimes.

This first row of stalls is on a walkway sunken below the level of the rest of the courtyard. On the right, at about shoulder height, is the base of the main courtyard, and stands selling shallots, vanilla (3 different kinds of bean and they smell incredible!), and sometimes a man selling baskets woven from pine needles. Continuing up a ramp to the main level of the courtyard is a stall selling tostadas and sandwiches. You get to choose what you put on your tostada: beans, 3 kinds of requeso spiced with cilantro, chile de arbol, jalapeno, or plain; 3 choices of green leafy stir-fried veggies, hot sauce (or not), and tomatoes. The tostadas are delicious and cost about $15 pesos (slightly more than a dollar, since the exchange rate is about 13 pesos to the dollar now). The woman making the tostadas is very friendly and calls everyone "mi reina".

Next to the tostadas is a stand selling baked goods, including varieties of pan dulce, bread, brownies, cookies, long thin pizzas, and rolls. I bought 3 panes dulces to try (one is stuffed with almond paste, one with chocolate, and one swirled with a mixture of raisins, chocolate, quesillo, cinnamon, and a ton of other spices).

To the right of this stand is another selling some sort of drink made of amaranth and requeso. I haven't tried it yet. There's a large tree growing out of the courtyard center. In the southwest corner is a pond with reeds growing out of it (my blog title picture). There is also a woman selling organic coffee and cafes con leche. Sometimes there's a honey stand and a natural remedy stand.

Many of the people shopping at the market are ex-pat Brits and Americans. Several of the people selling vegetables are also ex-pat Americans. There are also usually tourists from all over the world. Most of the stand owners are very friendly and love to answer your questions. I plan on going every week. Today I took M with me after yoga, and she loved it so much we made plans to come back tomorrow and have tostadas for lunch again, and this time bring L with us.