Caldo De Cabeza (Sheep Head Soup)

My roomate Jacob had one request on his birthday: to eat Caldo De Cabeza (Sheep Head Soup) in San Camilo Market. My other roommates Thijs, Menina and I all contemplated this idea and decided to honor the request. We headed to San Camilo knowing that it would be a risky choice of venue for such an order but also knowing no other place would do. We went up the stairs to the second floor of the market which is a mere fraction of the size of the first floor and where you can find many traditional, cheap and "colorful" places to pull up a stool.


Mind you, as I mentioned in my previous post about San Camilo, it is not recommended by locals to eat here as it is not as clean or fresh. Nevertheless, this would be my 4th roll of the dice with lunch at San Camilo and I was a confident 3 for 3 without issue. The last time I ate there, I went with Jacob and we drank juice made with tap water as the locals laughed at us and mocked "rico" meaning delicious as they drank from their bottles of soda.


We sat at what looked like a popular spot at the entrance of the food court where locals seemed to be enjoying their dishes. The place was called Anita, which I can only assume is the name of one of the two women who were preparing the food, washing the dishes, and serving the customers. All of the operations here at San Camilo were run something like this with only a couple of tables to serve between 4 and 8 people at a time. We ordered our Caldo de Cabeza and hoped for the best.

When it came, it looked delicious and well prepared and smelled like many of the other soups we've eaten. The word caldo actually means broth or soup and this broth was quite delicious. There were plenty of potatoes and corn in there as well. I honestly enjoyed it and ate all of it except for some unidentifiable chunk of flesh and bone. Jacob's soup had the jaw of the sheep and it looked pretty freaky. I guess it was only fair that the birthday boy had the obviously identifiable piece of face to fulfill his birthday wishes. The dish was 8 soles ($3) each and I think I'd recommend the experience if you ever get the chance to order it.