Saturday Outing: Bioferia in La Molina

Today we headed to the local farmers market, or bioferia, here in La Molina. It's held every Saturday morning at the Parque de los Ninos (or the Parque Infantil del Corregidor - I've heard both used). The park is great in and of itself - a giant playground (3 stories tall) for the 5 and over crowd, plus a smaller one for toddlers and an even tinier one for crawlers. There's a giant tunnel slide on a hill that both boys enjoyed, plus miniature golf and a couple of small rides.

John went to the farmers market with a friend not long after we arrived in Lima, but this was my first time. I was so impressed with how organized it was, and the quality of the produce and other products was amazing. I guess I'd imagined some horribly overcrowded square with a lot of haggling and potential pick-pockets, but this was a clean, relatively quiet gathering of local vendors and residents.

While John perused the fresh produce, local honey, native grains, and giant bars of Peruvian chocolate, I took the boys over to one of the blow-up slides that abound here. It cost 4 soles (or roughly $1.30) for ten or fifteen minutes of play time.

When John was finished, I got a chance to walk around a bit and check out the non-food wares, including goats milk soap, wooden toys, hand-knit items, and organic baby clothes. I didn't purchase anything but the prices seemed reasonable.

Afterward we purchased some hot food for lunch. We ate it all before I thought to take a picture, but John found a gluten-free spinach pie, Jack ate a yucca ball stuffed with veggies, and I had a cross between pizza and quiche. All were delicious and accompanied by a side of quinoa. 

Overall this was a fun, low-key way to spend a Saturday morning just fifteen minutes from our house. I highly recommend it!