La Vega

Santiago has a La Vega and Antofagasta does too.  I believe it just means "market" since that is what it seems to be everywhere we go.  My nana took us all there one day to show us the ropes - and meet her "clientes", which somehow must mean the people she buys from all the time.  It was pretty large and I couldn't get over how fresh and inexpensive everything was.  Compared to Jumbo, which is where I had been shopping, things were AT LEAST half the price.  I loved it.  From the fresh ingredients, my nana made a specialty dish from her native country Peru, called Aji de Gallina and I made my mom's strawberry pie (although the gelatin here is WEIRD very gummy, so the pie was a bit different.  And finding cherry 7-up equivalent proved to be trying...).  However, all the food was really good!