The city's main covered market is busy from 6am and one of the best places to eat breakfast in Cuenca. The ground floor juice and food stalls serve the local morning staples: caldo de mote (hominy soup), humitas (fresh corn tamales), tigrillo (mashed plantain with egg and cheese) and encebollado. Upstairs and around the edges, vendors sell fresh produce, local cheeses, dried herbs and the chilli pastes used in Cuencano cooking. It is entirely local and entirely unmediated — one of the best hours you can spend in the city.