Visit of the "Mercado del 20 de Julio" in the south of Bogotá

Last Friday we visited a great market in Bogotá, so now we would like to share some of our experiences with you. 

The excursion was really impressing for us, because most of the employees working in our office live in the north of Bogotá and therefore rarely go to this part of Bogotá. Located very close to the market, there is one of the most famous churches and at the same time places of pilgrimage, the "Iglesia del divino niño". So it is easy e.g. to first visit the market and then have a quick glance at the church.

Visiting a market in Colombia is exciting for many reasons: Firstly, they can be seen as authentic sites, as many Colombians do their weekly shopping and you hardly (almost never) ever see tourists here. Furthermore, the products there also reflect the variety of landscapes and culinary art. Not only fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and flowers are offered, but also different kinds of honey, herbs, herb tea and freshly squeezed juices. A very special juice, the „Berraquillo“, is made out of the following ingredients: alive crayfish, oysters, different vitamins, Borojó-juice (this fruit can only be found at the Pacific Coast in Colombia), wine and quail eggs. Sounds disgusting, but in the end it didn’t taste too bad. This juice is very popular on the markets in Bogotá, especially for its aphrodisiac effects.

They are put alive into the mixer: crayfish as an aphrodisiac

Of course, the variety of fruit is huge. Many of the fruit being offered can’t be found in Central Europe. 

Fruit at one of many stands

Bananas in different mature states

Some Colombians swear by the forces of the herbs being offered, e.g. there is a special tee for money troubles, one for lovesickness and one for getting rid of someone. None of these mixtures have been tested so far in the office, we keep you informed if this changes.

All of the market sellers come from the surroundings of Bogotá and go to the market every day in the early morning. The market is the only source of earnings for most of them.

Willingly, we integrate visits of markets into a city tour. Apart from that, the visit of a market can be easily combined with a cookery course or having dinner with a Colombian family. Feel free to ask us if you need more information about this.