La Vega

As part of our language courses at Berlitz, we go out for lunch everyday with one of our teachers. We usually just head to a nearby cafe for a sandwich, but one of our teachers, Enrique, is slightly more adventurous, and gave up two of his lunchtimes to take us to Santiago's inner city markets!

Here you can get two enormous lunches with drinks for USD $6! When Daniel went, he had "vacuno de jugo" (marinaded beef). On my trip I tried the "cazuellas" (soup with rice, meat and veggies in it). Our teacher ate "guatitas" (cow intestines).


We both saw tremendously exciting fruits and vegetables and pieces of meat, as well as weird and wonderful sauces and spices, and of course, pastas, beans and dog food! These markets sell EVERYTHING! I bought some caqui fruit and piñones to try.

It was a great lunch and a great introduction to life in El Centro. It certainly helped going with a Chileno the first time, and we'll definitely be back for more!