Today I had my penultimate (I hope) doctor’s appointment. Unfortunately, I did not make today’s outing to San Isidro as much of an outing as I did the last time I went, but I think it was a pretty fruitful visit. Clinica Anglo Americana was its typical posh-self and I honestly don’t know why I still feel surprised by half of the silliness I witness in there anymore. It’s just so weird. Anyway, I got my x-rays and Dr. C says that everything is healing up just fine. I saw the pictures myself and I honestly can’t really tell what’s happening but I trust that things are doing what they’re supposed to. In summary, I still have to wear my sling while “en la calle” and I can start running in fifteen days. The later part is probably my favorite and hearing it was (almost) worth the cost of the consultation.
I haven’t gone running since the week I broke my clavicle and that was six weeks ago. Almost two years ago, I got really into running and being abroad has made it a little tricky to get out there often. A broken clavicle also makes things a little challenging, but in fifteen days I’ll be good to go.
The more exciting part of my day happened while on the way back home via the Metropolitano bus system. When I got to the alimentador (busses that go to Villa el Salvador) there was a ridiculously long line. I decided to go to the shorter line, which basically cuts everyone in the longer line. (Because I was trying to get back in time to help out at Horas Públicas, I didn’t really guilty for breaking my usual moral code.) This little short cut was very helpful, because I was able to get on the first bus that came. It took some pushing and shoving, but I made it. Little did I know that the little fight (I use that lightly) I had to get onto the bus was the least dramatic part of the trip.
When we got into Villa, we hit major traffic. It was about 6pm so it made perfect sense. However, at one intersection it got real crazy. People on the bus were semi-yelling at the bus driver to turn (basically not wait for other cars to pass), huge, huge trucks weren’t letting us go, three Metropolitano busses were back-to-back on a curve trying to get to a stop where a long line of people were waiting and the path we were trying to go up was filled with cars going the other direction. It was a little chaotic. When we finally had a chance to turn, we slowly got into a pocket and as we slowly weaved through the kamikaze taxis and motos, I watched as my side of the bus scraped across the corner of a white pick-up. The truck’s tail light was done for and everyone on the bus saw what happened. Through the window I saw as the men in the pick up contemplated getting out of their truck to see the damage but they never did. As the path widened ahead of us we went on our merry way. Crisis sort of averted?
After we cleared the hill and were cruising for a while, all of a sudden I saw a white pick-up alongside the bus. As it passed us, I saw the broken tail light and exclaimed that it was the same car we hit. Exclaimed is sort of an exaggeration, but there was a sense of comradery amongst the other people in this bus and I decided that noting this observation was a very comradery-like move. (Probably not at all.) About twenty seconds after the truck passed my window, our bus came to a stop. Assumedly, the drivers turned all the way around, followed us back up and parked in front of us so he could talk to our bus driver. I looked out the window and sure enough, the truck driver was outside in the middle of the street, talking to our driver through the window. Everyone in the bus then decided to start calling the truck driver out, making fun of him, telling him how little of a problem it was and such. After about ten minutes of being stopped in the middle of the road, the truck diver left and we were back on our way into Villa. I don’t think the truck driver stood much of a chance to be honest.
Anyway, that was the exciting story of today. I’ve been very preoccupied with things not related to writing this blog, so that’s why posts have been so sporadic. CEDED is going on its own little Christmas vacation and I’m thinking that I’ll have more free time then.
Until next time!
Notas de Perú 