After hotel pickup, travel with your guide, who is also your cooking instructor, into the heart of Cusco to Mercado Central de San Pedro (San Pedro Market), a sprawling site where the locals buy their groceries. ( (

Follow your guide into the maze to pick up fresh, organic ingredients for your cooking class. Shop and people-watch as you gaze at stalls towering with fruit, vegetables and fish. Don't be (too) surprised if you stumble upon delicacies such as a pig’s head or bags of fried guinea pigs for sale.

Come across dozens of varieties of potatoes on display. A vital part of Andean agriculture, more than 2,800 types of potatoes originated in Peru. Learn about how some of these potatoes are processed, including the moraya potato, typically freeze-dried using ancient Incan techniques.

After the market, follow your guide to a chicher□a, a neighborhood tavern where you’ll try its freshly brewed chicha, a traditional drink made from purple corn. (You won’t find chica in tourist-frequented restaurants, but at unassuming chicher□as advertised only by a red or yellow bag or flowers hanging over their doors.) See how chicha de jora is made, a beverage considered sacred by the Incans, and learn the symbolism behind the traditional Peruvian symbols in the tavern d□cor.

Then it’s time to cook dinner and mix cocktails! Head to a cooking studio a few minutes outside of the historic center Plaza de Armas. Start off with a pisco tasting, hearing about the different varieties of grape-distilled liqueur, and then following your instructor’s lead, create your own pisco sour, Peru’s national drink, in a flavor of your choice.

(With your freshly made cocktail in hand, you’re now ready to prepare a three-course meal. Your instructor teaches you about the authenticity of Peruvian cooking and dining, and gives you inside tips to make sure your efforts turn out delicious. You'll prepare ceviche with fresh rainbow trout and a quinoa dish. The adventurous eater or chef can even learn to prepare guinea pig’s head.

Top off the lesson with a refreshing fruit salad, tossed together with the items you acquired from the market. Once everything is finished, sit down together at the dining table and savor your meal, along with a glass of wine. Hot and cold beverages are provided.

After your 4-hour tour ends at the cooking studio, stroll through the nearby Plaza de Armas before making your own back to your hotel.