Mercado Central, Santiago, Chile

Mercado central is the main marketplace in Santiago- much like KR market of Bengaluru or Koyambedu market in Chennai, only more organized and well maintained. Another difference is that all roads leading to a market area in India will usually be crowded, but the surroundings of Mercado Ccentral are as calm and serene as other places in the city. I didn’t get to see the crowd feeling anywhere. Mercado Central is believed to be the inaugurated in 1872.

I spent few minutes there- it did have road side shops just the way we find in India. A lady was also selling noodles by the roadside.

The main complex in Mercado central houses a range of shops and hotels- Shops mainly sell meat and vegetables, while lot of hotels serve food to guests, along with guys playing music…
I didn’t try any food here, as they were primarily non-vegetarian and I’d language problem emphasizing that I need pure veg food. The ambience was also too crowded and noisy to eat a peaceful meal. Meals were fairly expensive too- ranging from 500-1500 rupees. Without proper description of the food and not knowing if I’ll like them or not,  it was fairly big amount to experiment.
 
The fruits were fairly cheap: Mangos at Rs 25/kg, Banaga at Rs 35/kg, Apple at Rs 40/kg. I bought a kilo of Bananas at a shop and had them to my stomach’s content.
   
Mercado Central is also one of the pickup points from where Touristic Tour Buses pickup tourists for out of city tours. More about touristic in a separate post.

Toy train service in Santiago * Ceremony at the Palace * Santiago city views * Valparaiso city views * Cats in Valparaiso *

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Public transportation options in Valparaiso De Chile

Valparaiso has good public transport system. It has Metro, city buses, trams and trolleys.


Trolleys
Since Valparaiso has hill on one side, at many places you’ll find small trolleys (is that the right name for these things?) like the ones shown in pics. They’ve got an extremely simplistic design- a minivan sized metal body with rudimentary seats, with simple wheels to ferry people up and down the hill. The short ride which lasted 5 mins, taking to to a vertical height of about 50-60 meters, did cost 300 pesos or Rs 30. I came down using the road.



Trams:
In downtown Valparaiso, buses powered by overheard electric cables can be seen. They’re very similar to regular buses, moving on rubber tyres on the road (instead of metal wheels moving on predefined tracks). I couldn’t travel in them. Because they run on electricity, they’re probably more greener than their diesel counterparts. I don’t see any other uniqueness about them,

City Buses:
One unique design feature I noted about the city buses in Valparaiso is the exhaust outlet. They release exhaust gases higher up into air, than releasing them at lower levels, as in India. I think this design helps reducing pollution a bit. Most of the city buses were Mercedes Benz made.
 
Bus ride from one end of the city to another did cost me about 390 pesos or 39 rupees. Buses seemed to have 3 different rate slabs- local, directo and student. There was no separate conductor- driver himself was issuing tickets. I didn’t see any Volvo type ac city buses- being a cold place, Valparaiso doesn’t need AC buses in the first place. Bus stands were pretty simple.



Metro: Cost about two times compared to bus. I didn’t travel in it through.
Self Drive 4 wheel drive rental cycles:
Whatever you call these: pedal operated vehicles, large enough to seat 6 people are available for rent. You can rent them, seat your family and peddle all the way. Ideal for short drives around the sea shore.
  
Horse Ride:

 
Volvo B7R like intercity luxury coaches:
      
Valparaiso also has shared taxis, which run on a predefined route (like share autos in Chennai). I couldn’t try these either. The 9 lakh range Chevy Optra costs about 6 lakhs there

One can also hail a taxi, costs Rs 25 for first 200 meters and so on.

Toy train service in Santiago * Ceremony at the Palace * Santiago city views * Valparaiso city views * Cats in Valparaiso * Mercado Centre * Srilankan Posts *

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Chile lifestyle notes

Some say it is not a good idea to compare everything to India when we go abroad. Nevertheless, sharing some simple observations from Chile visit.

In India, buying bug LCD/LED TV is family celebration. Dealer would arrange for door delivery, offer freebees like DTH, TV stand etc. In Chile, I found people loading LCD TVs on their shopping carts and taking it home, without much fanfare, as if it is just another small household item.
Cycling on footpaths and inside parks is common. Cyclist go almost everywhere

Metro has near zero security. You pay for entering the station- the charges are fixed- 560 Pesos, irrespective of which station you board and get down. Once in, you’re free to go anywhere you wish, till the last station. No one will check tickets while exiting. It is possible for cunning people to misuse this system, but people here won’t.

Vehicles are relatively cheaper than India. Nissan X-trail that costs about 20 lakhs in India costs about 10 lakhs in Chile (Refer Ad below). Similarly for other vehicles. The reason obviously is tax regime. In india tax rates differ based on length of the vehicle, engine capacity, price band, whether it is manufactured here or assembled here (from CKDs) or totally imported and other factors. Due to this higher end cars get even more expensive. Chile doesn’t seem to have such rules. Because of not so strict tax rules, it is easy for car manufacturers to import and sell cars in Chile (Or Srilanka for that matter) without having to worry about numbers.

This holds good for Srilanka also. But then, I don’t think I should be complaining about expensive cars in India, because our food price is cheaper here, than Srilanka or Chile. In India, for about 100 Rs one can have decent food for a day (2 meals and a breakfast in a not so bad hotel), while a sandwich costs about 300 Rs in Chile. Even in Srilanka a plate of fried rice would cost about 100 Rs in INR.

A sample menu at a restaurant in Andes mountains, Chile is shown below. Note that cost doesn’t indicate 14.5 US $, it is 14500 Chilean Pesos or 1450 INR approx

In general people were friendly, but it is hard to find English speaking people. Once 2 people attempted to trick me into donating some money- A gentleman and his assistant who spoke decent English introduced themselves to me and talked about an education fund they’re building, because they said education is very expensive in Chile. They asked me to donate any amount I feel like- I didn’t find their motive and approach convincing and said a clear NO. They immediately snatched away a flyer they’d given me and when on to hunt for next pray.

In another incident an old lady approached me asking for a cigarette. When I said I’ve none, she asked for money. I gently walked away from the scene

Didn’t spot any street dogs in residential areas. Near the beach there were a few. Those who bring their dogs for a walk are required to collect any waste and put it in the box dedicated for the purpose.

Thanks. Read more Chile related posts below:

Toy train service in Santiago * Ceremony at the Palace * Santiago city views * Valparaiso city views * Cats in Valparaiso * Mercado Centre * Srilankan Posts *

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Andes Mountains, Valle Nevado Ski Resort, Chile

Andes Mountain is one of the most popular mountain ranges within a short drive from Chile’s capital city, Santiago. Touristik was offering a 4 hour trip to Andes Mountains and I made a short visit to this mountain using their guided service. The mountain was fairly dry when I was there in April, by now (June) it would all be covered in snow. In fact Andes Mountain ranges world’s longest, separating Chile from Argentine. What we visited was a small part of it.

The 4 hour tour started from Mercado Central, Santiago and after 2 pickups- one from a passenger’s hotel and another near a mall, we were on our way to Andes Mountains. We were about 11 tourists, including nationals from Brazil, Germany and USA.

Total distance to top of the mountain is said to be about 40 kms from Santiago city. Road was 2 lane and in decent condition, except occasional bad patches. On the way to Andes Mountains was a popular hospital. A poor quality image of that hospital complex taken from moving bus can be seen below (right) I forgot for what it was popular for. We were also shown lot of cactus trees, some of them are infected with parasites (red in colour)


On the way at one point we were above clouds. The scene was nice.

A bit of ice could be seen on top of nearby mountains and a glacier was also visible at a distance.

The valley had a river, which was almost dry.

The roads were fairly scenic,with occasional bad patches

We reached the mountain top, which houses a big hotel (Valley Nevado Resort and Puerta Del Sol Hotel) and few other buildings. Since it was not the season for sking, the venue was almost deserted. Heavy machineries used to clear snow were lying idle. Some construction was also in progress. There was a restaurant where we could refresh and have some food/coffee and few viewpoints.
 
  
   
               
In June tourists flock in large numbers (about 10000 per day is the number given by our guide) do enjoy mountain sports (skiing). All the dry mountains you see in below images would be covered with snow and one can ski over them…How I wish I was there 2 months later…

Other adventures are also available, at a price. Below display details various activities a tourist can indulge in.

Sking, horse ride and jolly ride in the chairs, as shown below seem to be the main activities.

The left image above indicates the top most point, from where skiing begins: you can initiate a long slide down the valley from here…All skiing equipments are available on rent

Return journey was uneventful. We were back in town by about 6.


Toy train service in Santiago * Ceremony at the Palace * Santiago city views * Valparaiso city views * Cats in Valparaiso * Mercado Centre * Srilankan Posts * Chile Lifestyle Notes * Chile Posts Digest

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