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Our last day in Santiago, and our final trip to the Mercado Central. Fresh Mussels in a spicy green salsa. Excellent! Chased down with a bottle of wine and lots of bread for dipping, the perfect starter to lunch.

We're window shopping along Alonso de Cordova in the Las Condes district, essentially the Rodeo Drive of Santiago. High-end shops with high-end prices. We can't afford anything but there's good people watching to be had. We duck into a shady restaurant to get out of the midday sun and have a quick bite. This was essentially a lox salad tucked into a pita pocket, but just what I wanted at the time so it tasted great. And despite the ritzy neighbourhood, the prices here were quite reasonable.

Occupying an entire block, the Mercado Central is an amazing structure. Built in 1872 this market is framed almost entirely from wrought iron. Inside there are several excellent seafood restaurants. We settle (should I say pulled, the restauranteurs here are aggressive) into one of the larger establishments. This spicy king crab appetizer was delicious, came with lots of bread to sop up the juices too.

You should have seen my wife's expression when they put this in front of her. She was first overwhelmed by the size, and then by the number of mystery items on her plate, "Oh right, different coast means different seafood." She tucked into her meal like a trooper though, only a couple of spongy, cone-shaped pieces she just couldn't eat. "It was delicious all the same."

The Mercado Central is a bit of a tourist spot, but we're tourist so what the heck. Grilled sole with a creamy seafood sauce and rice. The presentation left a lot to be desired, but the taste was amazing.

A mixed cheese and olive plate with saltine crackers. A nice way to spend a warm spring evening watching a lunar eclipse. The feta was a bit tasteless though.

Cool bistro a few blocks from our hotel, but the waitress was rude and snooty. Compounding our misery, when I ask how big a large pizza is, she makes a circle the size of a CD, so my wife and I order one each. As you can see they are actually about 15" in diameter. We were ever so pissed! The pizza was quite good, sharp Roquefort cheese with mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. But the service tainted the whole experience. We left her a 40 cent tip.

Four tasty personal pizzas with cheese and olives. This time I REALLY made sure I knew in advance how large they were. Our waitress tonight was super sweet, gave us basic Spanish lessons (at least on how to order more drinks) and made a good evening even better. This joint was on the outskirts of the Barrio Bellavista, the bohemian district of Santiago, home to artists studios, musicians and drunk students from the nearby University - it made for a fun, albeit weird, vibe. Sidewalk patio, mini-pizza in one hand, mojito in the other - this is what vacation is all about. Ahhhh...

10:00 pm and it's still Happy Hour! And there's a lunar eclipse happening right above us! And the Mojitos are super strong! And we're drunk! Great empanadas with guacamole, flakey pastry and not overfried. I'm sure it's not just the rum talking - these are excellent!

After six hours on a plane we weren't famished, but wanted something. This cheese platter was the perfect snack/dinner. Nothing exceptional to the patter, but the ultra-cool atmosphere, latin acid jazz made the experience perfect. Served with toast, which I found unusual.