Where locals go

Where morelianos actually go

Mercado Independencia is the everyday market, not the sweets arcade the tour groups hit. Locals come for cheap, excellent comida corrida, carnitas and the day’s produce. Go hungry, eat at the stalls, expect to pay very little.

Corundas and gazpacho carts. In the mornings you will see office workers lining up at street carts for corundas, the local triangular tamal, and in the afternoons for gazpacho moreliano, a cup of chopped fruit with lime, chili and cotija cheese. Both are a couple of dollars and pure local routine.

Enramadas and cenadurias at night. After dark, families head to small supper spots for enchiladas, pozole and tacos rather than to bars. This is the real evening scene in a city that does not do late nightlife.

Sunday on the Calzada. On weekends locals walk the aqueduct promenade and the Bosque Cuauhtemoc park, with kids, ice cream and coffee. It is the closest thing to the city’s living room.

A friend’s tip

Skip the sweet-market prices near the cathedral for anything but a taste. For real michoacano food at local cost, walk a few blocks to Mercado Independencia at lunchtime and eat whatever has the longest line of office workers in front of it.