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Monday, April 5, 2010

I never thought I would experience the Vertical Earthquake Ramiro had told me about. I had no idea there were two different types of earthquakes.
Now, neither one of us are experts on Earthquakes so we use a common explanation. The one we know.
The most common earthquake or tremor, causing the most amount of damage is - what I call - the Horizontal. The earths shakes back and forth, left and right, braking up roads and shaking buildings. The other one I call the Vertical; The earth moves up and down. Not that I was waiting for either one, but experiencing the Vertical one, sort of completes our adventure, and just in time because today we are leaving.

After a busy day, we are enjoying an American movie in bed. all is quiet and very relaxing.
All  of a sudden we hear a bang, that can be compared to a  lightning strike.  Immediately following was the strangest feeling. As if the bed was pick up and dropped two inches...... PLUNK!!! ....... and that was it, after that everything was quiet again. I did hear a few car alarms go off in the neighbourhood but no other sounds or sensations. WEIRD. We turn to the news on TV and learn that the epicenter was Valpairio at 5.5 and 4.5 in Santiago.

It took me a while to fall a sleep, not knowing if there would be other surprises, but everything remained quiet after that.

The bags are packed. We have the whole morning and part of the afternoon for ourselves.
The sun is shining it is a beautiful fall day in Santiago. Leaves are falling of the trees. Temperatures of 24 C are expected and will increase to 27 over the next few days. Let’s take it all in while we still can.
We start walking and end up on Providencia, the main street, which was so quiet the last few days. Today, it looks like New York. Buses and taxis fill the streets. People walking, rushing to work or to go shopping. All the stores are open again. We just go with the flow, and are shocked by the number of people at the pedestrian crossings ignoring the red lights. Especially the elderly.
They walk as if the lights do not exists. While many wait patiently until the light turns green. We watch an elderly lady cross while the light is still red. A taxi approaches and she is waving her hands signaling him to stop. The taxi driver honks his horn, we shake our heads, others just take it as a normal occurrence.

The street is lined with little kiosks, fruit, candy, magazines. Even the shoe shine is busy. Ramiro puts him to work on his shoes.

On the corner we notice a three story caracol, which is a popular shopping area.
The centre is usually open along the sides are tiny little stores, you can reach by following the walkway shaped like a snail, leading up to the various levels. Once you reach the end, you walk back again along the same spiral. This area, however is filled with antique shops. Ramiro is having the time of his life and wants to show me everything. There is jewellery, furniture, statues, art, lamps. china and lots of silverware.
I patiently tag along, hoping Ramiro will have the same amount of patience when I take my turn at the many ladies wear shops.

We have difficulty deciding where we can eat lunch today. The best places are usually hidden and you don’t easily see them from the street.
I keep my eyes open and spot a small passage. It leads to an open area with little boutiques and Bingo, a number of restaurants.

We pick the nicest looking one and find a wonderful outdoor patio on the second floor.
We both agree, that we should have one more Pisco Sour, before we return to Canada.

We have a Taxi bus take us to the airport well in advance, knowing that it is still chaos at the airport as a result of the earthquake.
The arrival hall is in a temporary tent on the parking lot outside. There is no way for the taxi to approach the departure hall. We need to find a cart for our luggage and walk a long way to the entrance, where we take the elevator to the third level.
There is construction everywhere. Restaurants and stores are either in temporary locations or under construction.

It was so neat to see the donation box from one of the Rotary Clubs in santiago with the End Polio Logo. What a great idea.

While we wait at the departure lounge, we feel one more tremor. I will be so happy to be in the air and leave the shaking behind. Oh, but I forgot about the possibility of turbulence. During the entire 11 hour flight the plane did nothing but shake. Most of the time we were not even allowed to get out of our seats.
With an overnight flight we usually hope to get some sleep. Instead we watch movies, three of them.

After a four our wait in Toronto, where back in the air again with an hour delay and more turbulence. The last leg of the flight and one more movie.

We’re happy to have our feet back on Alberta ground again. Liz and Robert have been waiting for us and welcome us back with flowers and food in the fridge. It’s wonderful to be home again.


These were four amazing months. The places we have seen, the people we have met, the lessons we have learned. We will never forget.

It is nice to be able to go to the blog every now and then and see the pictures and read about our own adventures. We hope that this blog can also be a guideline for those who consider making a similar trip.
We’ll probably never have such and adventure again, but then on second thought: Our motto is:  “If you do it at half the price, You can even do it twice”.
Perhaps you will follow me again?

ONE LAST VISIT WITH THE FAMILY

Friday, April 2, 2010

The Easter weekend gets taken very seriously here and is called Holy Week.
Most of the stores are closed for three days and every one leaves town.
200,000 people are leaving Santiago today and the majority of them are coming to Viña del Mar. Not to worry, because we are leaving for Santiago, so there will be lots of space for us.

Patti and Delio are also planning to go to Santiago for the weekend and have offered to take us along with them. That works out perfect, because without the car, we were trying to figure out how we would be able to take all our luggage on the bus. We have enough time to have breakfast on the balcony before they come and pick us up.

When we reach our hotel, I am delighted to see that they did upgrade us to a nicer room as we are entitled to with our Best Western Platinum card. These next few days are going to be very nice and very special.
We are only a few blocks from La Providencia, a large shopping street, but there won’t be much shopping going on because almost all stores are closed.

But there are plenty of restaurants to pick from, we go for the one with an outdoor patio and spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

SATURDAY

Today we will get together with the Ortiz cousins for lunch. They have come from as far as San Antonio and Peñaflores to spend time together and say goodbye. From the 5 aunties and uncles there is only one still alive and she is joining us today and so is Patricia’s Mom.
We treat everyone to a Pisco Sour and get a chance to visit with everyone while Wolfy and Patti order the food, my favorite Parillada.
Wolfy drives around to visit a few more family members and at last we end up with cousin Katy, who has a house full of people, celebrating her grandson’s first birthday.
Cousin Ingrid and her husband Hernan drive us back to our hotel.
It’s great to see everyone and to have a chance to say goodbye.

SUNDAY
There are mor family members to visit.
We take the metro and the bus to San Bernardo to visit the Rubio Varas family one last time. Teruca and Nena have prepared a great meal, including empanadas and stuffed mashed potatoes. Nicolas shows us some of his artwork, designed from ceramic statues which did not survive the earthquake. He is very talented.

It’s too bad we can only stay for a little bit but we have one more family to see.

We rush back to the hotel, freshen up quickly and change clothes for our visit with Fernando the ex husband of Ramiro’s Mom at his daughter’s house.
We go to his daughter’s Patricia’s house for tea and the necessary pastries. It’s a good thing I am not able to eat any of the breads, cookies or pastries, or I would have pigged out like Ramiro does.

I know what we will eat once we get back home......... carrots. Somehow the extra weight needs to come off again.

Tonight will be our last night in Chile. When we return to our hotel room, the room is already prepared for the night. It is sure nice to live in a little bit of luxury now and then, but we have been perfectly allright with the simple life, which allows us to make more of these type of trips.

NO APRIL FOOL

Saturday, March 27, 2010

We drag all our belongings out of the car and pile them up in the hotel room. Oh my world, how could we ever accumulated so much stuff?
I carefully sort through Ramiro’s rock collection, trying to determine which one we can take home and which ones have to stay behind. We do have a weight limit for our luggage dear, and I really did not do all that much shopping.

Ramiro is taking the car for a complete clean up to get rid of the four months of dirt from every corner of Chile. I wonder how they will be able to do that as every little opening has dust and sand in it.
Meanwhile, I start walking, looking for a place to rent. I take note of phone numbers in apartment windows, knock on doors and ask the doorman at the apartment buildings. At a hostel up the hill, close to the Presidential Palace, I finally get a positive response.

No, we do not have any apartments here, but la señora has an apartment in a high rise building along the main road. I can go and see it after 4:00 pm today if I like. After getting the directions, I walk the ten blocks back to check out the neighbourhood and the building and am pleased with what I see.

We spend the rest of the afternoon walking through the city and along the beach, calling more people, checking out more places. There are plenty of apartments available, but in buildings where we would not want to be in. Too many cracks and too many broken windows. There is an enormous amount of damage in many of the historical buildings as well. A large percentage of apartments have been vacated, due to major structural damage.

There is construction everywhere, sidewalks are blocked off to project pedestrians from falling debris or construction material, where they are removing loose pieces of walls and fixing the facade.

We decide to go for a walk in the park, to find out it is closed due to damage to the power lines. And this is suppose to be an area that has not been affected by the quake in a major way. I can only imagine what things would be like further south.

We meet the owner of apartment I checked out this morning and are thrilled to see such a modern, studio style apartment on the 12th floor, with a small balcony. No, no view of the ocean, but you can’t have it all. We do however have  a swimming pool on the 22nd floor.

We agree on a price and arrange to pick up the key tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile someone calls to come and see the car. After a test drive, they agree on the price and Ramiro receives a cheque as deposit to hold the car. (let’s hope it is more than just a piece of paper).






















SUNDAY
We move into our new apartment, unpack a few things and start cleaning.
Most of the places we have lived in, we leave behind cleaner than we find it.

But it feels good to play housewife again. I can hardly wait to cook a few meals for us and entertain some of our friends and family here in Viña.

We walk to Patricia and Delio’s apartment and after a glass of bubbly we drive to Reñaca for lunch.
On the way back we pick up some groceries and invite Ernesto for coffee, which of course includes bread and a variety of cold cuts etc.
Ramiro and Ernesto have long discussion about some legal issues and other paperwork that needs to be taken care off.

MONDAY
After having seen so much damage in Viña from the quake, I feel a little nervous being on the 12th floor of this apartment building and discuss the suggested evacuation plan. It never hurts to know what to do.
I saw how the entire stairway from a 12 story apartment building had collapsed and wondered how those people made it outside safely.

I am happy to leave the car parked in our secure, covered parking stall below the apartment and we take the bus to Santiago,  a 1.5 hour relaxing ride in one of the many luxurious buses.
Too bad it was so much cooler and cloudy in Viña this morning, we dressed warm and find a very sunny and hot Santiago. The Metro takes us quickly to the various places we need to be at. We have a number of documents to pick up and more paperwork to complete. Before we take the bus back to Viña, we reserve a room for our last three days at the Best Western in Santiago.

Tonight is one of those relaxing evenings you expect when you are on holidays. A nice dinner at home together and a late night movie on the sofa.

TUESDAY
For the first time since, I don’t know when, I get to sleep in, we don’t have to go anywhere. No need to rush, It’s like being on holidays. I feel really relaxed and am a little more at ease on the 12th floor, although I feel frequent tremors during the night.
We do some housekeeping. Oh yes, even Ramiro helps sweeping the floor and washing dishes.
The weather is not what we had hoped it to be. Another day of solid grey sky. Everyone is dressed in, what we would call, winter clothes. Boots and scarves and warm jackets. Well, it’s not that cold.

The sun breaks through in the afternoon. An opportunity for us to enjoy the sun deck on the 22nd floor. The water in the pool is too cold however.
I really look forward to having Patrica and Delio come over for drinks and prepare a variety of finger foods, including shrimp stuffed avocadoes.
When they arrive. We put a bottle of Pisco sour and a set of plastic Champagne glasses in a bag with some appetizers and head for the 22nd floor, where we enjoy the magnificent view and toast each other to the “good life” until the sun goes down into the Pacific ocean and we continue our evening together in our apartment.


WEDNESDAY
It’s sure strange not having to pack all our belongings this morning, as we have done over the last four months and rushing off to the next place. Our clothes are hanging in the closet just like they would at home. I think it is a sign that we are ready to settle down again and look forward to home.
As long as we can, we do without the car and enjoy walking through Viña del Mar. This mornong we are heading to an Italian coffee ship to meet Patricia and Delio and take a different route so we can see as much as possible of the city.



We have made arrangements to meet with Luis Alberto and Brenda. our first hosts in Viña, who hosted us over the Christmas Holidays.
We have invited them for lunch and return to the Italian neighbourhood for a wonderful fish dinner.


After lunch, Luis Alberto drives us to a Rotary Project his club is involved in.
We visit an orphanage on a small street in Viña.
From the outside it looks like a simple house, with approximately 23 babies and toddlers up to the age of three, who have been abandoned by, or taken way from their parents as a result of alcoholism, drugs or abuse.
The Government supports 50% of this home. the other 50% comes form organizations such as Rotary.

The home is very small, leaving very little room for the children to sleep, eat or play. During the summer months they are able to spend time outside on the patio, where they can get some fresh air. In winter however they need to stay inside.
Unfortunately there are not enough care givers to be with the children. It is rather sad to see these children on their own. Some are ready for a nap a need to be in bed, others are craving for a hug and are so happy to see someone who like to hold them. This reminds me very much of a similar orphanage we have visited in Siberia in 2004.

The Concon Rotary club, together with a club in California has arranged for funding to build a second storey to the home, which is almost completed.
They will have a new kitchen, laundromat, additional beds and other much needed items. In a way I was hoping to hear that they need more help but it looks like all the financing is in place to complete the expansion of the orphanage.






There is one more project Luis Alberto likes to show us. We have to drive to Villa Aleman, roughly half an hour from Viña.
Here we see the other end of the life cycle, which I call the final stop.
When the family is no longer able to care for their aging parents and the hospital is not able to heal them, they go to the palliative care facility, which is veru much underfunded by the Government.
As I walk through he halls and look inside the living quarters of these sick elderly I am reminded of an old warehouse.
Cold, bare walls, no colour, no pictures, no night tables with personal belongings. As if these last day do not matter anymore.

What a difference with North American facilities.
It’s nice to see the large number of beds, walkers, chairs and other hospital equipment disposed of by the Alberta Hospitals, but desperately needed here.
This shipment was arranged for by Ramir0 after his Rotary exhcange with the help of  HAWS. Our Rotary District, Humanitarians Warehouse Society and a group of Rotarians from Red Deer, Alberta, who filled the container and prepared it for shipment to Chile.
We discuss with one of the administrators further needs and hope to be able to assist. They need more beds and equipment and are also short of staff.


THURSDAY
Today is the day. We will be selling the car. We’re up early but by the time we are at the registry for the paperwork, it is almost noon. Due to the earthquake damage to the administration building, many of the offices have been moved and are now housed in other Government buildings. It is quite a challenge to find them.

I can't help but thinking that it is April fools day today, but all goes well with the transaction and we walk away with a bundle of cash to be exchanged into US dollars. Wow, what a great deal we made with this car. Between the purchase price and the selling price we ended up spending less than $ 2,000.00 on the car for the four months of our travels. Sure beats renting a car, which would have  been well over $ 7,000 for the four months.

It’s a gorgeous, sunny day today. We go home to celebrate with a bottle of wine and lunch on the patio. After the customary siesta we spend some time upstair on the second floor and as I write my blog, we feel the vibration of yet another tremor. We sit quietly waiting to see if it will end or if it gets worse. Luckily it stops soon, but I am eager to find solid grounds.

There are still a few places we want to visit and today is our last chance. We walk to the beach for a last farewell and when we return home, we prepare for our last Rotary meeting in Chile.

The Miramar clubs meets at the San Martin Hotel at 9:00 pm. The first hour is cocktail hour. Just fellowship and general discussion. At 10:00 pm we are asked to take a seat at the table together with the only five members in attendance of this club of 16 and we start a very informal discussion, which includes a welcome and the introduction of a professor who speaks about a research project on the Chilean culture.
10:30 pm. Dinner is served. Am I glad I took part in Siesta today.



We enjoy the walk home this mild, late evening. The streets and resturants are full with  people who have come to Viña to spend the Easter weekend.

What a great day, what a great week.