Mercado Central

Yes, Chile has wet markets. (that's no surprise. where'd all the fresh produce go otherwise? supermarkets?) I came across several while on my way to Mercado Central, a fish market known for its seafood.

Stuff sold in the wet markets are generally cheap, like my 1USD kilogram of grapes. But they may not be of the best quality. Those grapes turned out to be sour...and had seeds in them. Still, there are good buys to be found. At another stall, I got myself a quarter kilogram of this delightful mild, fruity cheese for slightly over a dollar.

The cheese shop. The cheeses are mostly semi-soft and mild. Curiously, they last well even in open air.

Some of the market buildings contained only flower shops. Flowers seem to have a large market here in Chile, they are probably used mostly for religious purposes.

Unlike Singapore's wet markets, the passages through the market, especially those in the vegetable section, were rather narrow, permitting only two people to squeeze past each other. The interior is also badly-lit and makes one feel like being in a makeshift tent. But hey, for goods at these prices, I'm not complaining.

I headed down to the famed Mercado Central after that and found a great multitude of fishmongers selling an incredible variety of sea creatures. There were clams, barnacles, oysters, scallops, mussels, urchins. Fish sold there were mostly of the larger species, such as salmon, swordfish, seabass.

I stopped by Donde Augusto for dinner, which was a huge steaming bowl of curanto, a traditional Chilean soup concoction of pork, chicken, and various seafood. The taste was great, but I would recommend it only to people who like strong shellfish flavors.

Left: An all-star cast. What would a Chicagoan pay to have even a morsel of this on his table? Then again, the only place the average Chicagoan would eat this is on a Fear Factor set.