We arrived late on Thursday the 10th Jan in Temuco, and so decided to stay two nights, as we wanted to spend some time looking around the market, and the guidebook we had suggested that there was enough to detain us for a full day (but probably not more than that...)
The 'hospedaje' we stayed in (there are no hostels in Temuco) was a bit of a dump with no breakfast supplied so we went to the central market in search of coffee. The town had seemed a bit grey and dusty the night before but upon arriving at the central market we were pleasantly surprised by how clean and fresh everything now looked, as though someone had given the place a spring clean overnight.
Coffee and empanadas located and consumed, we set off for the Mapuche produce market. Temuco is the trading centre for the indigenous Mapuche people who inhabit the south of Chile, and their market is reknowned in Chile. It didn't disappoint... the market sprawled from its official, modern-looking nucleus into neighbouring halls and sheds, looking ever more ramshackle the further from the nucleus we walked, and even taking over whole city blocks. Several supermarkets located within the market area also competed for trade. And the most immediate thing that struck us was not only how fresh and appealing all the fish, fruit and veg looked (in stark contrast to that generally on sale in Argentina, for example), but how everything had started to look a bit more, well, South American. Both Argentina and Chile are often said to look more like parts of Europe than the rest of South America. Having remarked to another traveller on the Esquel - Bariloche bus that Argentina reminded me a little of Romania, the market in Temuco reminded me somewhat of produce markets in Mexico.
The 'hospedaje' we stayed in (there are no hostels in Temuco) was a bit of a dump with no breakfast supplied so we went to the central market in search of coffee. The town had seemed a bit grey and dusty the night before but upon arriving at the central market we were pleasantly surprised by how clean and fresh everything now looked, as though someone had given the place a spring clean overnight.
Coffee and empanadas located and consumed, we set off for the Mapuche produce market. Temuco is the trading centre for the indigenous Mapuche people who inhabit the south of Chile, and their market is reknowned in Chile. It didn't disappoint... the market sprawled from its official, modern-looking nucleus into neighbouring halls and sheds, looking ever more ramshackle the further from the nucleus we walked, and even taking over whole city blocks. Several supermarkets located within the market area also competed for trade. And the most immediate thing that struck us was not only how fresh and appealing all the fish, fruit and veg looked (in stark contrast to that generally on sale in Argentina, for example), but how everything had started to look a bit more, well, South American. Both Argentina and Chile are often said to look more like parts of Europe than the rest of South America. Having remarked to another traveller on the Esquel - Bariloche bus that Argentina reminded me a little of Romania, the market in Temuco reminded me somewhat of produce markets in Mexico.
The rest of the day was spent buying bus tickets to Santiago for the next day, catching up on the internet, and generally chilling. We even managed a few local specialities... Mote con huesillo is an odd (yet refreshing!) conconction of dried peaches in watery syrup with pearl barley, sold from mobile stands in the park. Pastel de choclo was like a cottage pie, but with the addition of chicken egg and olives in the 'meat' and the replacement of mashed potato with mashed sweetcorn. Again, odd but tasty.
(Another Chilean surprise, food wise is the prevalance of horse meat. We seemed to stumble on a few 'Equino' butchers..... Hannah)
Having planned our trip mostly around Argentina, and having crossed the border from Bariloche as a means of avoiding a 20-hour night bus along the eastern side of the Andes to Mendoza, we hadn't expected much from Chile. But to our surprise we were finding that we were enjoying the change a great deal so far...
Robin
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