Santiago Markets

This morning we experienced an experience... the Santiago markets. Downtown Santiago is where the markets are and they sold every thing you could possibly imagine in the way of food. What got us the most was the lack of refridgeration and sanitation. The meats were huge chunks, how on earth you would cook it is anyone's guess. You just wouldn't buy your meat from here unless you were Chilean. The smell was gross, so you just had to switch off to that and go with the flow. I clicked my camera whenever I could and just kept walking, not taking the time to stop or I'm sure we would have passed out. At the end of one row, on the outside of the markets, was a lady selling chicken in plastic bags with absolutely no refridgeration at all. Oh my! We stopped to buy some nuts, dried fruits and grapes. The fruit and veges looked fine, they wouldn't be a problem. Melissa bought us a juice and that was nice and refreshing. Bob also bought or rather, I bought, as he hasn't handled the Chilean pesos yet, some pickled onions and gherkins.
The fish we saw was also gross and this section stunk worse than the meats. We only saw one section that had some ice on the fish, certainly not all over it like you would think.
A few times people on the stalls would tell us to mind our bags and cameras. My bag was over my neck and shoulders, my purse was also attached to a strap on my bag so it couldn't be snatched from me, while my camera was over my neck with a Creative Memories lanyard and also around my wrist. I'm sure it was all safe, but we still got told anyway. We even had a couple of security guards watching us to see that we were ok.
I'm glad we didn't take the kids down there, it wasn't overly crowded, but not a place for kids. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing any kids there at all. Arden stayed with the nana (maid, Sylvia) while Harley was at his Jardine (day care). He loves going to Jardine but is never quite sure who should he go with. Yesterday he wanted mummy to take him, today it was ok that Sylvia did. Pop has walked down with him, although Melissa went too. They do speak English so that is something.
We are getting by with being able to buy a few things ourselves. Just being able to understand how much they are asking for is difficult, but fortunately Melissa is with us and can understand most of what is being said. Next week when we go to Peru could be a different story. Melissa says to just get them to write it down although I'm starting to understand the numbers, like uno = one, dos = two. If I stop and listen I think I can pick up what they are saying, but once we get past dies (ten) then I'll be stumped. Melissa has loaned us her Spanish phrasebook to use.
We have also experienced the South American toilets. This is unreal and something hard to get used to. They obviously don't have a good sewerage system or it's just their way, but you don't put the paper down the loo, there are bins next to them for it. How gross. Thankfully at the apartment, we do it our way.
The holiday is great, we are certainly finding out about another countries customs and will no doubt appreciate ours when we go home. I'm enjoying seeing Harley, he's cute when he climbs in the bed with nanna each morning and I'm also getting lots of cuddles with Arden who is now just over one month old.