Copacabana · Food

The row of stalls at the bottom of Avenida 6 de Agosto, each chalking up the same list: trucha frita, a la plancha or al ajillo, with rice, chips and a little salad. Roughly 30–45 bolivianos a plate, cash only, busiest at lunchtime.

The covered market a couple of blocks back from the water, where cooked-food stalls do a set almuerzo — soup, a main, a drink — for well under half what the lakefront charges. Go before 1pm, because they run out.

Both come out of the lake and both appear on menus. Trucha is rainbow trout, introduced last century and now a local industry; pejerrey is smaller and bonier. Ask for it a la plancha rather than fried if you want to taste the fish.

The Bolivian habit worth copying: a baked pastry of stewed meat, potato and a great deal of juice, sold from carts and small shopfronts from about 9am and gone before lunch. Eat it standing, narrow end first, or wear it.