The not-knowing...

Being away from people you care about when something like this happens is awful. And yes, I know that in a situation like this there exist many varieties and degrees of awful, from losing your life to losing people to losing your home; this is just one type of awful amongst many.

I wrote yesterday that in some ways I'd prefer to have been there. Santiago friends told me I was well out of it.. They are right and of course you shouldn't wish yourself into misfortune. But O was there. 

The news here is painting a very bleak picture. Looting and frustration in Concepcion (and Santiago?); the death toll poised to rise and rise; no light or water or food in many parts of the country including the capital. That's what the news says anyway.

I have no real idea what people there are going through. Even those in Santiago.

I hope that, for the people I know, the situation is closer to that described here by another Chile blogger. Life going on, not as usual by any means, but as best it can.

So this is what happens when I take my eye off you Chile..

Too soon? Perhaps.

I hate earthquakes. Just like I don't like swimming in really deep ocean (ergh.. dangling with all that space underneath you...) I don't like it when the ground moves. I'm not afraid to admit that I act like a wuss when it happens, although to my blessed relief I've slept through or been otherwise unaware of all the temblors I've been told we've had since I arrived in Chile (with the exception of the one about a month ago when I woke up and demanded to know why O was moving the bed in the middle of the night).

Nonetheless, since I've been in Chile people have been telling me that the 'big one' is overdue and I have subsequently been crapping myself that it will happen while I'm there. Turns out that in the end it waited till I was just out of the country..

In the end I'm not sure if I would have preferred to have been there in the terrifying midst of it or here not knowing what had happened - I spent hours trying to get through to O on non-existent phone lines, skype, checking Chilean news sites to see if they were working (they weren't) and reading twitter to try and get news. Eventually I found a webcam broadcasting from Providencia which showed my apartment building, so at least I knew it was still standing. Now I've spoken to O and seen more pictures, so I know that the damage in my part of the city was minimal.

Some might say that I spend a fair bit of time on the blog bitching about constructively criticizing aspects of Santiago city design. So I'd like to take this opportunity to officially eat my own whiny words - Santiago, you mostly didn't fall down, and I applaud that. You may not have worked out how to get customers in and out of a bank in under two hours, but at least we can be safe in the knowledge that the bank will not collapse on our heads while we're waiting in line.

Sadly this wasn't the case everywhere - people elsewhere in the city and country did suffer damage and tragically there have been a number of lives lost. (EDIT: this number has taken a huge jump on day two after the quake as they reach the more isolated areas - it now looks like while Santiago had a lucky escape this is not reflective of the rest of the country.)
But a huge shout out to Chile in general for being as prepared for this as a country can be, for having good anti-seismic structures and action plans that will help to prevent a greater loss of life, and most of all to the people, who've taken this all in an unbelievably calm manner. Hell, O was even joking as he described how our 15th floor apartment was, and I quote, 'rocking like jelly'. Ugh. My hat sincerely off to you all.

Thanks to everyone who emailed to check if everyone we know is safe and well - they are.

Following Margaret from Cachando Chile's lead, there is a series of photos of the quake here which show some of the devastation around the country.

EDIT: buscador de desaparecidos aqui. favor difundir.

the dark side of llamas

Today, in lieu of anything more comprehensive I hereby bring to you the scariest llama related animation ever made. Had I seen this before my trip I might never have gone. Enjoy.

Voted off the island..

... fortunately, there's plenty of places to escape to in these parts.

Funnily enough, amongst the llamas and alpaca herders, internet wasn't a priority here. So I haven't been ignoring you all, I've just been ... away.
More soon when I've washed the travel out of my hair, burned my clothes and regained my breath.

I like big b***s and I cannot lie...

What on earth are they advertising in this photo? No, not giant Italian asses (sadly for those who arrived at this site because they googled that particular phrase). In fact, these are sandwiches. Which may of course give you a giant ass if you eat enough of them, although I doubt they'll be able to turn your tush Italian.

Things Chileans Like 2: Bad Customer Service

Actually, that's a little unfair. I don't know if Chileans actually like bad customer service, but its certainly a possibility given its prevalence here.

Lets take the dinner I had last night as an example.

We're in a nice restaurant in Bellavista that serves the most awesome sandwiches which, amazingly, are not of the completo style, but rather of the pan-American gourmet style - think sandwich of aji de gallina with salad or lomo saltado complete with tiny potato crispies. Ok, it might sound a little weird but take it from me, these sandwiches are the real deal. As in, delicious, and not at all like a completo.

We sit down (after being told that the table we wanted was for six people and us only being four made us ineligible for it..). So we sit down at a crappier table, for four people. Menus arrive. There are lots of drinks in a big long list headed 'tragos', which oddly enough, means 'drinks'.
O turns to waitress and points to one of the drinks.
O: 'Que es esto?' (what's this one?)
Waitress: "Uh.. Son tragos.' Waitress turns, and walks off.
In case you didn't get that, her response to his question was "They are drinks". That was it. Then she left.
Well, thank you for that. I think that counts as Strike One.

Food arrives. O wants another drink. He asks the price of the beer.
Waitress: 'I don't know'.
Long pause. Waitress stands there.
O: "you don't know the prices?'
Waitress: 'Well, they've just changed them.'
Another long silence. O eventually asks for the menu. Strike Two.

Finally, I order a beer from the tap. It arrives two thirds full.
Me: 'Sorry, but this beer isn't full.'
Waitress: 'Well that's because the foam has gone down.'
Me: 'Erm... well can I have a full one then?'
Waitress makes face and tomps off with the beer. It comes back full. Probably with saliva.
Definitely Strike Three for Chilean Customer Service.

And you know, that interaction wasn't even that unusual.

Oh, and the table we originally wanted and weren't allowed to sit at because we didn't have six people? Yeah, it ended up hosting an enormous party of ... two.

and THIS, my friends, is how you celebrate winning an election...

That's right. Difference between winning an election and winning a football match? Absolutely none.