With March and April a new season for fruit begins in Cuzco. Since the rainy season has extended this year beyond its normal course, seasonal fruit is late in arriving in the City. As a result, the new season has just begun.
A great quantity of fruit is offered with distinctive characteristics and origins. You can see the colorful offerings in markets all over the city. On the first row we find delicious and mature papayas, the great majority of which will be sold by the kilo, about 2.50 /S to 3/S (between US $0.90 and US$1.10).
Along with them you will find the fresh and juicy mangos from Quillabamba. Many of these are quite large and are priced more than the other fruit. Depending on their size, you can either buy them by the kilo or in some cases they are priced individually.
Our common bananas, also called plátanos de la isla, are available. Although you will find them in our stores and markets year round, during this season they are in splendor and are at their best.
Since schools are back in session, children’s parents send fruit with them to school in their lunch box. As a result, mothers and other people fill the markets to buy fruit for their kids’ lunches as well as for the rest of the family.
Nevertheless, a great argument is taking place in Cuzco. People are concerned that children are not eating as much fruit as in past times. Instead, people argue, they are replacing it with junk food, cookies, candies, and such.
It is necessary to know the nutritional value of fruit and that out body and health require it. Some of the schools in the city are trying to get the majority of their students to eat fruit instead of junk food so that they will develop properly.
We should take advantage of all the fresh fruit that comes in a continuous flow as the seasons change. There is always fruit and it is always different. With its diversity of ecologies and agriculture, Peru is a great source of a wide variety of fruit.
