In Cochabamba there are a lot of street vendors. They sell salteña, snacks, sugar cane (out of wheel barrows), cigarettes as well as non-edible items too innumerable to list here. Probably the nicest thing in terms of street venders in Bolivia is the grapefruit/orange juice carts. These carts are on every other corner and dotted around plazas.
In terms of self-gratification there are few things as simple or as pleasurable as finishing up on a warm Cochabamba afternoon and walking through a dappled plaza to a juice lady and watching the world go by as you suck back a freshly squeezed juego de pomelo. The produce is local, you don’t have to drink out of a disposable plastic cup if you don’t want to and if it is quiet the vendor will chat to you even though your Spanish is weak.
I should note that if you ask how much for a glass you will pay BS$03.50 (NZ$00.70) or even BS$04.00 (NZ$00.80) if you are shy and unlucky. When you figure out what is going on BS$03.00 (NZ$00.60) is the price. I recommend you never ask for cost on this one, just hand over the money*.
* Prices in Bolivia for everything are negotiable most of the time (though not in the severe entrepreneurial spirit found in Asia). For example with a taxi the time of the day, how many people and the quality of the taxi will all effect the price of the ride. There are no meters in taxis and “time spent” is not often a variable a driver will consider. Before you get in a taxi you always discuss price through the window. The same thing goes when you are buying fruit and veg in a mercado. This seems to be a distinct difference when dealing with juice carts.
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