view from hotel in los condes
Alright, so I arrive here in Santiago, Chile a week ago and yet this is the first post i’m making… now its time to catch up, but the problem is where to begin? Like any good story, I could begin with something a little like…
In a land far far away, where the sun always shines, the water is always warm (and blue), and the mountains as green as you can imagine… I began my journey that would take about a 36 hours to complete, and leave be on the opposite side of the planet… deep into trenches of South America.
The week officially began last thursday when I arrived into Aeropuerto de Santiago at about 6am. The first day entailed a bit of running around the area of Las Condes where I would be calling at least the first two weeks home. My first impressions were definitely a bit different from what I had imagined prior to coming here. I had read about how bad the smog was…so much so that kids and parents are kept home from school or work rather then go outside into the unsafe conditions. So when I first arrived, I was surprised to see a city that at first glance appeared to have many more trees then I ever imagined, and some beautiful views of the nearby Andes. For those familiar with NYC, the city has an almost Brooklyn feel, just with more trees. This isn’t to say that the air quality is any better then had been reported. What is surprising, and almost sad, is just how close the mountains are, yet on some days are no clearer then a shadow in the backdrop.
This brings us to Friday, an all around great day. It started off pretty early as we (two co-workers, a new co-worker and myself) took a 1.5 hr drive down to Valparíso and Renaca Beach down near Viña del Mar. (I’ll post on these separately).
Saturday… There’s no real way to describe the events of Saturday quite honestly. The news has reported on it, and family and friends have inquired about it, but it has almost been surreal what took place. At about 3:30am, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit down south, which happen to impact the entire region, including Santiago. Several buildings in Santiago where damaged or destroyed, but for the most part, escaped the worst of the situation. The areas down south didn’t fair so well. This wasn’t any normal earthquake, while most apparently last about 30-45 seconds, this one lasted officially about a minute and a half. For those in taller buildings, this then translated into a hurricane that seemed to last about a full two minutes as the buildings continued to sway to avoid collapse as they are designed, before coming to rest.
In some respects, what is even more amazing to me then the severity of the earthquake is what has followed since have been an non-stop barrage of 6.0+ aftershocks which in any other place in the world may be met with panic, but down here, unless the quake registers over a 7, its not even considered an earthquake, but rather merely a tremor.
The week since that has followed has been extremely busy, but sort of pales in comparison to an 8.8 magnitude earthquake. It’s basically been comprised of instructing, learning, practicing (butchering) the spanish language and getting a feel for the pace of life in this large South American city. The people have been amazing… beautiful, friendly and a lot of fun. So much more to do.. so much more to see. First up for this weekend, besides finding where the fun is, is getting a place to stay once my welcome at this hotel has passed, a new cell phone (damn you AT&T and Apple) as well as sadly… some more work.
los condes panoramic
