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So. First of all, before I go to crazy on the colorfulness of mostly vegetables with which I am going to make great deliciousness in the kitchen, let me assure you that someone sucked all the color out of Santiago. I will surely post some beautiful photos of how gorgeous it is mid-winter, on one of those rare post-rain snow-covered-mountain days, and you will say, “I wished I lived where you live,” and I will smile with great glee. But the ugly truth is that is looks like this much of the winter.

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Also, when I was leaving my beloved bike at the bikeshop to have the wheel rebuilt (including buying a new hub (at least that’s what I think a masa is in English), I was complaining about the spokes breaking and Gastón, who works at the bike shop was like, “well, do you carry heavy things in panniers?” And I was like, not that heavy, just what I buy from the feria. Which it turns out is like 30 pounds worth of stuff. I weighed the cart I had to use to go to the feria because see bike, in shop.

This is what it looked like fully loaded (and by the way, walking a mile to and from your groceries is kind of lame, but on the other hand, you see some good stuff, so maybe it’s all ok:

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And here’s what it looked like (and what it is, and what it cost) when I set it on the table. Not pictured, the other half of the avocado that was pressed into service for the lunch I had to eat before this was taken, because I just walked a couple of miles with my groceries, and also, it was past lunchtime.

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The dollar is at 560 CLP at the moment. Vocabulary lesson comes free with blog readage.

1 mega bunch of acelga/swiss chard=800 CLP/$1.43
2 medium berenjenas/eggplants=400 CLP/.71
1 giant coliflor/cauliflower=800 CLP/$1.43
1 head of brocoli/broccoli=800 CLP/$1.43
2 giant cebollas/onions=300 CLP/$.54
1 granada/pomegranate=300 CLP/$.54
1 kilo actual red, ripe tomates/tomatoes=800 CLP/$1.43
1/2 kilo palta/avocados=800 CLP/$1.43
1 dozen “color extra” huevos/eggs=1500 CLP/
3 pimentones/red peppers=500 CLP/$.89
1 bunch cilantro/cilantro=150 CLP/$.27
2 alcachofas/artichokes=800 CLP/$1.43
2 maíz/corn=500 CLP/$.89
Total=8450 CLP/$15.08

Also on offer, but which I did not buy, were the tail end of the persimmons, and pears, which I meant to get, but then there was this folk dance performance by the neighbors, representing Chile, the Mapuche culture (also Chile, but indigenous, so you could say the Chilean one was the Huinca culture), Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, so I got distracted.

I walked the long way home, so I could walk down this street, the continuation of Plaza Concha y Toro, called Concha y Toro, where I snapped this sign advertising (what else?) hoses. On the left side is a mural by the graffiti artist Coas, with one of his alien guys above the doorway (not quite visible) posing as the artist himself. I have not linked to his site because it seems to have malware on it at the moment, but here’s an article where he’s featured (in Spanish), from March, 2014 on El Mostrador.

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I have 30 pounds of produce to find a home for.