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I have begun to think that perhaps fruitflies have the most sensitive sense of smell (or whatever it is they have) of the whole animal kingdom. They come in droves the second you get fruit into the house, which means you have to put said fruit in fridge, which makes a girl sad because cold fruit is not as delicious as room temperature fruit and also, despite many dental interventions, some people still have sensitive teeth.

Anyway. Fruit. We have it. It is high fruit season in Chile, with melons at a price so low it will almost make it worth it to fly down to Chile, eat your weight in melon (I suggest doing this somewhat slowly, due to melon’s tendency to hurt the guata (stomach) after too much, and whatever you do, don’t drink a beer and eat watermelon, because here in Chile, that will kill you.

Feria! First, my main accomplishment this week at the feria was accepting nary a plastic bag. It is hard to do, this plastic bag narying. You have to be quick on the draw, with one of the following statements ready to fly.

No quiero bolsa (I don’t want a bag)
Sin bolsa está bien (It’s okay without a bag)
or my personal favorite: Lo llevo así no más, sin bolsa por favor. (Oh, I’ll just take it like this, without a bag please)

At which point the person you are dealing with will say, oh, you are taking care of the environment. And you will feel a smirk come to your face, as you heft the mostly locally grown produce into your reusable bags, like so:

All of the bags have a story, but this was the first time I trotted out what is probably the best souvenir I bought myself in Suriname, a Suriname flag bag, which I bought in the market, and I believe it cost 5 SRD, about a dollar fifty.

But you want to see what’s inside, no?

And we have:

1 canteloupe 500 clp
1 honeydew 500 clp
1 watermelon 600 clp
whole bunch of tomatoes 1100 clp
basil 200 clp
mystery herb bundle 200 clp
lemons 500 clp
lettuce 500 clp
red peppers 400 clp
grapes 350 clp
2 cucumbers 400 clp

The peso is down again, to 482 clp to the dollar. The total price for the haul was 4,750 CLP or about US $9.85 for all those nibbles. I would have paid less if I’d gone to the Vega, but I am still not really walking properly, so no Vega for me. This was the Saturday feria, which is not as good as the Sunday one, re: variety, but I still did ok, and the tomatoes are awesome.

So the living is easy in Chilito, it would seem! Except for when you get hit by a car, and have to limp to the doctor, which I dutifully did. I chose to go to MEDS, the fancy-ass clinic up in Providencia (or is this La Reina), near the Bilbao metro. There I would see a sports doctor and we would discuss the great unfortunateness that is getting doored, how long I lived in the United States, because it seems to have affected my accent some, and also that I am not set up (physically) for running, due to joint issues and general body type.

The good thing about MEDS was the crazy nice office I got to sit in while waiting for my doc to come in to see me (after he called me, but before he attended me). Behold:

The other good thing is that I thought to hold my skirt close to my body when I got on what shall heretofore be referred to as the “upskirt box,” a contraption with a mirror and a piece of glass to stand on, so the doc can see the bottoms of my feet and how I stand and whatnot.

The not good thing is that whereas the same consult with my regular foot and ankle specialist at Integramédica would have cost me X as a copay, this one cost me almost 3X. Where X is an amount of money greater than what I just spent on vegetables. (reveal, my COPAY cost $50 US at this clinic, ouch, ouch ouch). However, he’s a sports doctor and the nice office and gave me a 2fer because he looked at my old ankle scans and um, well, I just spent way too much on my health. My mother assures me I’m worth it.

Also, today I discovered the sprain does not allow for skating, 8 days out. I’m grumpy. Good thing I have all that melon to eat. Ta.