La Vega - a real Santiago experience

Autumn has now definitely made it to Santiago. Friday we had lots of rain. After spending many years in the Rainy Kingdom we didn't believe we would feel this way but here rain is actually great! We don't have to water the garden and after a good downpour the Santiago smog is usually gone for a few hours (during the week) or days (weekend / holiday season). So Saturday and Sunday we have enjoyed clean fresh air (certainly for Santiago standards) and lovely blue skies!

The mountains are beautiful, all covered in snow down to about 2000m, which makes Santiago look very picturesque.

  

We had a relaxed Saturday, first pottered around the house a bit, then watched an interesting movie with some friends: Forks over Knives (the hyperlink takes you to the trailer with Spanish subtitles and for the full version here).

If you have any of the following symptoms (and I know a couple of you do, wink wink ;o)) you may well want to have a good look at it as it is potentially a life changing movie:

• overweight
• high cholesterol
• hypertension 
• type 2 diabetes
• heart disease
• cancer

The plot is simple: in the developed nations we may be the first generation that lives shorter lives than our parents because there appears to be a quite clear (and unprecedented) pattern of certain diseases. Developing nations seem to start following the pattern when they "progress" and change their diet. Hypothesis: we are not getting sick because we have bad genes, but because we are eating in a way no generation has eaten before. All of this explained by medical professionals, no new agy stuff or any spiritual speculation.

We accompanied this by a mostly raw vegan meal (mostly raw, completely vegan ;o)) Since we are in Santiago, we have great availability of high quality and local fruit and veg, much of it sourced from the weekly organic markets, which means we have been able to increase our consumption of raw food significantly. This is great, we both feel that raw food is a very positive addition to anyone's diet as it is unprocessed high nutrient and high fiber food. The downside is, of course, that if you were to rely on 100% raw foods, locally sourced and seasonal fruit and veg is difficult to live off in many parts of the world for at least parts of the year (perhaps except the tropics?). One could potentially end up with a bigger carbon footprint than one bargained for with a lot of the food having to be air-freighted or otherwise transported over long distances. Over the years we have tried to learn from the raw foodist movement but, at least for ourselves, have concluded that it is best to strike a balance between healthy planet and healthy body - one without the other doesn't make a lot of sense.

Anyways, following this very informative Saturday, we decided to go to "La Vega" on Sunday. This is the biggest (primarily fruit and veg) food market in Chile and certainly a great place to get a real feel of the essence of Latin America.

It has around 9.5ha so it is pretty difficult to walk all of it and most people just know a few places with good quality/cheap products and always go back there! It can also be quite an intimidating place for foreigners to go on their own so if you are visiting Santiago and want to have a look at La Vega, best thing to do is to get a local couch surfer to show you around!

La Vega for us was an interesting combination of colourful fruits and veg from everywhere stirred with cats and dogs respecting each others' space, lots of people mingling and pushing, pigeons, rubbish, pungent smells, traditional foods and toys, cars trying to squeeze through the market square and some atmospheric rythms from local musicians practising in the street. Some more photos below as words just don't do it justice!

Los perros

El gato jefe

Las frutas

Cochayuyo (a type of sea weed - Mario loves it!) y aji (a type of spicy pepper)

Las cosas raras (y carne de soya al fondo!)

Las peonzas

Peces muertos

Cabezas

Zapallos y cebollas

El coche pasando entre la gente

La basura...

  

 Nosotros