Earthquake 8.8 on the Richter Scale Hits Chile

I wrote this last night when I couldn't sleep after the earthquake. It's funny because I didn't realize how serious it was at the time. Everyone always tells me that gringas overreact to earthquakes, so I tried to calm my nerves. Turns out this earthquake was 1000 times greater than the one in Haiti, but because of the infrastructure Chile has, the damage will most likely be far less.

So here it goes, my reflections right after the earthquake hit.

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Holy Earthquake!!

I’m writing this offline, at 5:06am, approximately an hour and a half after the earthquake. I was immediately awoken from my sleep sometime around 3:35am and I knew this wasn’t a garden variety temblor that I feel all the time in Santiago. This started off strong and lasted what seemed like an eternity. I bolted from bed and woke up my friend’s mom who happened to be staying with me. We headed for the elevator shafts (the strongest point in most buildings’ structures) and waited it out. We heard glass breaking, people screaming, what seemed like thousands of car alarms going off at once, things falling from the shelves. I’m not sure how long it lasted (I’ll have to wait until the internet is back up to check) but to me it seemed longer than a minute. There were a couple moments when I thought the entire building was going to collapse; I’m not going to lie. I think I started crying and my face must have been horrible because my friend’s mom kept asking if I was alright.

When it was over, we came back into the apartment to assess the damage (thank God I had my wits about me to grab the keys on the way out!). Nothing broken, just the bookshelf knocked over and some water on the floor of the bathroom which I assumed sloshed out of the toilet. We were without electricity until just a few minutes ago. My friend Liz was trapped in her apartment because she couldn’t get the deadbolt unlocked. The quake must have shifted the door jamb. Someone chopped their door down with an axe. Hardcore. I’m so glad I was able to get out of my apartment. I would have seriously flipped out if I had been trapped.

Right now I can’t sleep because of all the aftershocks and little temblores. I feel like I’m on a ship on the ocean; my building just keeps swaying back and forth. I now know though that if it’s a big one, it starts out big. It’s not like a little temblor is going to increase in intensity to become a big one. Although it’s hard to convince myself of that, even though lots of people have assured me of this and I just experienced it for myself. I would just like to feel as though I’m on solid ground (but I guess in Chile you never really are)!

Of course I’m thinking of Haiti, where the destruction was a million times worse. Of course I can’t come close to feeling what they felt, but I understand the terror of feeling like the ground is falling out beneath you. I’m so grateful that I live in a building that was designed to withstand earthquakes. Really, I should feel relieved every time I feel the building sway! I’ll find out tomorrow what kind of damage the poorer areas of the city withstood. I hope no one was seriously injured, although I keep hearing all sorts of sirens outside. I’m not sure if it’s just the normal Friday night sirens, or if they’re because of the quake.

I really want to email my parents to tell them I’m okay. I realize they have no idea what happened yet, but I’d like my Dad to read my e-mail before he reads the International News online in the morning. Maybe it won’t even make the International News now that I think about it. It’s hard to tell how serious it was. I mean it was definitely the strongest I’ve ever felt here in Chile, and I’m sure it’s the strongest Santiago has had in years, perhaps since 1985.

Ahhh! I just really wish these little temblores would stop. I’d really love to get some more sleep tonight. But my stomach is in a knot and I know I won’t be able to sleep when I feel like I’m at sea. Maybe I should think of it as being rocked to sleep?

Anyway, I’ll post this just as it is later today when the internet comes back. For now I’m going to try to sleep I guess, or maybe read some Breaking Dawn. Nothing like the fake danger of vampires and werewolves to keep my mind off the real possible danger of what I just lived through.

10 Things I'm Glad I Did/Packed for Torres del Paine

I'm baaaaaack! Did you miss me? Ha. I've been in Patagonia for the past eight days hiking " the W" trail in Torres del Paine. It was hands down the most physically challenging thing I've done in my life, but it makes me feel so good to know that I could do it. So for any of you who are planning on heading down to the end of the world any time soon to do some hiking, here are some things I'm glad I did. Later on, look for things I wish I'd done!

1. Hiked "The W" East to West. This was kind of random luck on my part. As I was planning the trip I read lots of travel blogs and this one I liked said they had started at Hosteria Torres so I decided to do it that way too. That means we hiked up to the Torres the first day, which some might think is best to do last (you know, save the best for last), but really, we had perfect weather and were actually able to see them (if it's cloudy/rainy, you can't see them) so I'm glad I planned it this way. Plus, we got the hardest hike out of the way first. After that, no matter how hard it was, we could say "at least it's not as hard as Las Torres!"

2. Intervals. We timed ourselves and walked 20 minutes and rested for 2. It was a nice way to break it up, and it gave us enough time to either take off our backpacks, drink some water, eat a quick snack or duck behind the bushes when mother nature called. We weren't super strict about the 2 minutes, but usually it was enough time.

3. Stayed in Refugios. Yes, they're expensive, but if you can afford them, they are worth it. I can handle one or two nights of camping, and we did stay in a tent for one night, but sore muscles plus a hard ground is just not my idea of a good time. If you do want to stay in the refugios, though, book in advance. I booked in early December for mid-February and one of the refugios (Cuernos) was already booked. This is the website for booking Refugio Chileno and Refugio Cuernos (owned by Fantastico Sur) and this is the website for Refugio Paine Grande and Refugio Grey (owned by Vertice Patagonia).

4. My packing job. I brought the perfect amount of everything. There was nothing I didn't use at least twice. I thought I was bringing an insanely small amount of clothes, but trust me, when you're sweating a lot every day, it doesn't matter that you've been wearing the same shirt for three days in a row. Also, I was so glad I saved some non-hiking clothes for when we got back to Puerto Natales. It was so nice to be able to put on clean clothes!

5. Packed food. We purposefully didn't bring enough food for the whole trip because we planned on eating some dinners at the refugios. They are expensive ($10.000 CLP) but you can always share with someone (especially at Paine Grande or Grey) because they give you a huge plate. However, we packed cans of tuna, Cliff Bars, trail mix, Sunshine Morning bars (available at Jumbo and so delicious), apples and oranges, juice powder, instant coffee, tea and cocoa (hot water available at all refugios), pita bread and peanut butter. Yes, our packs were heavy the first few days, but it was worth it. It would have broken the bank to eat all of our meals at the refugios!

6. Flashlight. Bring one. Even at the refugios they shut off the electricity at night.

7. Banano (aka Fanny Pack). My friends made fun of me big time for committing this fashion faux pas, but man was it useful. I kept all my important documents and money in there, plus had room for a cliff bar or two, hand sanitizer and other important things. It was nice not to have to rummage through my backpack for stuff like that.

8. Had an extra day. A lot of people do the W in 4 nights, 5 days. It's definitely doable in this amount of time. I scheduled an extra night at Refugio Grey because I'd heard that it's nice to have a day of less intense hiking and to be able to explore more. This was definitely a good choice for me because I ended up hurting my knee on Day 3, and so it was good to look forward to a day of rest for my aching joint. I'm not sure it was the best idea to book the extra day up at Grey, you could fiddle around with that, but it worked out okay for us. (See more on this in the follow up post!)

9. Hiked one part alone. Okay, so they warn you not to do this, but I'm glad I did. It was soon after I had injured my knee, and I wasn't able to hike up the Valle Frances with my friends. I considered waiting at Campamento Italiano until they got back, but it was FREEZING and I knew I would just spend two miserable hours shivering and bored out of my mind. So, I told them I'd continue on by myself to Paine Grande Lodge. It's the easiest hike according to the official map, so I figured I wouldn't have a problem going solo. Besides, if I did, my friends would eventually find me. Ha. Hiking alone was amazing. Of course I saw other hikers, but there were long stretches of time where I felt like I was the ONLY person in the park. It was an amazing feeling. Plus, it was nice to go at my own (slow) pace and take as many pictures as I wanted without worrying about slowing up the rest of the group.

10. Had good socks. There are times when you literally have to walk through rivers, and although my boots were waterproof at some point in time, that obviously wore off and I forgot to re-waterproof them. That being said, although my feet got wet, my wonderful wool socks prevented my feet from getting cold until I could change into another pair. I had two really good pairs of wool socks plus two pretty good pairs and that was enough for the six days of hiking.

This isn't my last word on Torres del Paine. Look for the second half of this post, plus a picture post coming soon!

My week in the South in Pictures

I'm in between vacations and I thought I'd have more time for blogging, but in between packing my backpack and buying last minute things for Torres del Paine, seeing Avatar and searching every store in Mall Plaza Vespucio for a fanny pack (not for me, don't worry), time is slipping through my fingers.

There isn't really much to write about my time in the 14th and 9th Regions (thank you, Chile, for creating new regions and completely screwing with the order), so here is my week in pictures.

Me in a boat on the shores of Lago Ranco. Looking ridiculous, as usual.

N. and Lago Ranco.

My favorite picture I took all week. A cloudy day at Lago Ranco.

Queen of the Rocks

A rainy day in Valdivia. The building on the right is a Patrimonio de la Humanidad, but I forget why. It's pretty, anyway.

Dr. Seuss Flowers in Lanco (Of course that's the scientific name...haha).

Playa Rio Plata in Pucon, view of Volcan Villarica on the shores of Lago Villarica.

View of Volcan Villarica from downtown Pucon. See that smoke? Yes, it's active.

Lobos Marinos! Aka Sea Lions. In Valdivia, sunning themselves.

View of Valdivia from the Rio Calle Calle. The tall white building is the Casino.

View from Rio Cao Cao in Valdivia. There's a reason it's called Region de los Rios (Region of Rivers). There are a ton.

Anyway, I highly recommend a visit to Valdivia. It's a gorgeous city with lots of history. Pucon is also a good choice, especially if you're into adventure sports. However, it's probably the most touristy place in Chile apart from Torres del Paine or San Pedro de Atacama, so it fills to the brim in February.

Lanco, Chile: Reflections on Small Town Life

View of the main street of Lanco from N.'s apartment

Eight months ago I went to Curico with a friend. As we were wandering around the deserted, dead streets of the city (it was a holiday weekend) we started to muse about what it would be like to live in Curico. Not as a gringa, but as someone who grew up and lived in Curico their whole life. It was hard for us to imagine.

Fast forward to last week and I find myself in Lanco, Chile, a small town of 16,000 people on the northern tip of the newly created 14th region of Chile, Region de los Rios. It's about 70 km from Valdivia and 90 km from Temuco. No one comes to Lanco unless they have a reason to. It's not touristy at all. I was there because N. works there managing a construction site and I wanted to visit him and get to know that area of Chile.

One morning dawned rainy and ruined my plans to go to Lago Panguipulli, so I decided to explore Lanco. I started contemplating what it would be like to live in Lanco, to have lived there my whole life. It depressed me. From what I could tell, the main activities of Lanco natives were hanging out on the steps of the tiny Unimarc, sitting in the plaza, walking on the railroad tracks, chatting loudly on the corner of the street under N.'s window about everything but the price of tea in China, and driving your car around and around town with no apparent destination. How could people live like that? Don't they long for the hustle and bustle of a larger city? Don't they get bored? I was certainly bored and I had been there 3 days.

Chewing the fat outside the clock store

Now, a little history about myself. Santiago is the first city I've ever lived in. I like living in a city, and honestly don't think I could live anywhere in Chile that wasn't Santiago. But my desire to live in a city is a recent phenomenon. I grew up in Vermont, in a tiny town of 2000 people. I lived on a farm until I was 15 years old. I know approximately everyone who lives in my town, and most people who live in the neighboring towns. Was I miserable as a child in this town "in the middle of nowhere"? Not at all. Completely the opposite. I had a great childhood. I never once remember wanting to move to the city of Burlington, VT, much less Boston or New York City. For me growing up, Lanco would have been a metropolis.

So if growing up I wasn't miserable, the residents of Lanco must not be either. My problem was that I had only been there three days. My life was not in Lanco. When you grow up somewhere, you have your roots there. There will always be people you know and you don't need a million different activities to entertain yourself. My favorite memories as a child center around the games my sister and brother and I used to make up, the times spent at family gatherings, playing hide and seek in the corn fields with my friends, going to bonfires and barn dances and generally just enjoying the company of the people in my life. I imagine life in small town Chile must be similar. From an outsider's perspective it may seem mundane, but I'm sure if tourists came to my hometown, they would think the same.

Another view from N's apartment

That being said, I don't think I could go back to living in my small town. My friends have mostly grown up and moved away, and while my family still lives there, I know from experience that I need a network (however small it may be) of friends to keep me sane. However, I now have a deeper appreciation for small town life. It's a perspective I've gained only by leaving.

Catching up: A Valparaiso Picture Post

I've fallen way behind in the blog world. So many posts, so little time...oh wait, I'm on vacation! It's a rainy day here in Lanco, Chile (and the entire XIV, IX and X Regions) so I'm taking advantage of the time to watch E! (or any TV, for that matter, since I don't have TV at home) and write some blog posts.


First up, we have Valparaiso. I've been there a few times, but since a friend and her mom were visiting last week, I decided to tag along. We did some things that I'd never done before, so I consider it a successful trip.

We walked through the Museo al Cielo Abierto, which is an open air museum of murals. A lot of them have been vandalized and some need to be re-painted because they've faded over the almost 20 years they've been displayed. Despite that, Valpo is an extremely colorful city, so it was fun nonetheless. We ended up at Pablo Neruda's house La Sebastiana for some beautiful views of the port, then went back down to "the plan" (aka the flat part of Valpo) and stumbled across a special exhibit of Guayasamin in the basement of the Art Museum. Then we ate a late lunch near the pier and headed back to Santiago.

Here are some shots from the day:

The colorful hills of Valparaiso

One of the faded murals of the Museo al Cielo Abierto

Really cool steps

Cute French tourist girl/future model who was really into posing for me

My friend saying hi to a Valpo resident

Laundry hanging out to dry