In A Nutshell: -Vega…read moreCentral is a produce market where you can purchase in small or wholesale quantities. -I saw a wide variety of vegetables & fruits that were stacked neatly & presented nicely. -The prices vary by vendor, but seemed to be pretty consistent. Overall, this is a medium-sized market, but they have enough choices to create many meals.

Santiago's main vegetable market (as opposed to Mercado Central that's more seafood), this is a…read moregreat opportunity to experience the variety of fruits and vegetables that are unique to Santiago and Chile. Many colorful displays of produce here, I have never seen "Chilean" corn which is different than American corn in that it's a lot thicker. Interesting! Garlic, plantains, red peppers, onions, peaches, apples. What's available depends on what season it is. Prices are clearly marked and are probably a little bit negotiable. As near as I could tell, vendors only accept cash.

Excellent spot for purchasing fresh fish. Our food tour made a long pass through here late morning…read more Lots of fish from many different vendors. Some were pleased to see a tour come through and some were less pleased as we were blocking traffic while obviously not buying any fish. Many different varieties and species of fish, displayed on ice. Some whole, some pieces. All sorts. We made our way from the actual vendors side to the restaurant side. Yes, the hawkers are persistent. Ignore them.

We stopped by Mercado Central on a Monday afternoon and it wasn't a fun experience. We were going…read moreto go to Donde Augusto inside for lunch. The moment we stepped inside every single restaurant was AGGRESSIVE and tried to harass us into dining at their establishment. You have to be VERY firm in saying no because they're practically trying to drag you into their restaurants. After we found Donde Augusto and asked one of their staff for seating, someone from another restaurant still tried to poach us from their staff and started arguing with our server over us, it was WILD. I can't say I was a fan overall. It's not super big and smells very strongly of fish. There was a cute little stand that had very reasonably priced souvenirs inside but they only took pesos so bring cash.