If you haven't heard, the death toll in Chile is up to over 700, and over 1.5 million homes have been destroyed or severely damaged. Many roads and bridges are destroyed, and people are still trapped in broken buildings. The Juan Fernandez islands were badly hit with a 15 meter wave, and many people are missing. Please keep Chile in your thoughts and prayers. Everyone in my group, and all of the family of the ISA employees are fine, but it's still a great tragedy to the south of where we are.

Everything is still going well. We left the city around noon today, and went to the city of where we are staying at a resort. We’re about an hour and a half north of Santiago. I think we’re here on the orders of ISA in Austin, because there was still a slight concern about safety in Valparaiso due to the small possibility of an aftershock or tsunami. However, from what I hear, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar where relatively unaffected by the earthquake, and the danger of a tsunami was almost non-existent. I’m sure you guys have seen, but there is a lot of destruction in the central and southern parts of Chile and now over 200 deaths. We’re pretty isolated where we are now, and I only know what I hear and see on the news. Is it true that Hawaii got hit with a tsunami?
Well, other than the earthquake, the second-most strangest thing in my life happened to me today. I was talking with a group of ISA students, and the topic of bird watching came up. I hesitantly mentioned that I was a birder, and someone who wasn’t from Messiah or particularly interested in biology said, “That’s so awesome! I can’t believe you’re a bird watcher!” I, of course, thought that she was just being bitingly sarcastic, but she insisted and said, “Yeah, my friend from back home and I think that bird watching is so cool! I’m going to send her an e-mail and tell her I actually met a bird watcher today!” It still seems too strange to believe, but she appeared genuine enough to be convincing. Bizarre, I know.
I learned something else about Chile today, and don’t be fooled, Chile isn’t heaven, but this fact brings it pretty darn close:

They eat avocados almost every day.

Why doesn’t the whole world flock to Chile right now, you ask? I don’t know.

But seriously, I’m ready to get to my host family, get into the rhythm of things, and stop having craziness happen. At least non-sugar induced craziness.

MACs

Good luck to the Messiah Track and Field team at indoor MACs today!

Terremoto

First of all, I’m fine and everyone else in my group is fine. No one was hurt last night, but some of our plans have changed a little. For those of you who haven’t heard, most of populated Chile was rocked by a huge earthquake last night at around 3:30 am. I was sleeping on the ninth (and top) floor of a hotel in Santiago when it started. I woke up a little confused, and at first I thought someone was in my room shaking my bed. The shaking then started getting pretty intense, and I realized that it wasn’t a wake-up call but an earthquake. I got out of bed and stood in the doorway of my room. The electricity was out at this point, and I had to brace myself against the door frame to stay upright. The building was shaking pretty violently, and dishes, tables, lamps, and pictures where falling down and breaking. There was also a lot of plaster falling off of the walls and ceilings. My roommate was still sitting in his bed, so I told him to come over and join me in the doorway, hang on, and enjoy the ride. I would estimate that the earthquake only lasted about 30 seconds. From the news, they said that the epicenter was far to the south of here, but it was still an 8.8 on the Richter scale in Santiago.

After the shaking stopped, I found a flashlight, and my roommates and I walked down the stairs and left the building. We went to the spot where we were supposed to meet our group, and waited for the rest of the ISA students and our leaders. It took a couple hours for the electricity to come back on, but someone brought a deck of cards and we played spoons while we waited. But we didn’t have spoons so we played with bits of rubble (the word for rubble in Spanish is “escombros”). After a couple hours the electricity came back on and we were told it was safe to return to our rooms. There was a lot of plaster on the floors and broken glass, but nothing too major seemed to be destroyed. We did have to put a lot of the furniture back in place, but then we went back to sleep. The rest of the morning there were aftershocks, with an especially big one at 7:30, but nothing like the original quake.

Oh – there was just another aftershock. I’m kind of getting used to them.

So far I’ve heard that 82 people were killed in the quake, but I haven’t seen anyone that is injured, and there are no visible signs of damage to the outsides of buildings that I can see. All in all, it was a unique experience, and at no point was I afraid of being injured. My greatest fear was that looters would take advantage of the situation, and my stuff might get stolen. Fortunately that didn’t happen, and I got to experience the largest earthquake in Chile since 1985.

Bird update –
So far it’s been pretty slim pickings in the city, but I do have two new life birds. Austral Thrush and Chimango Caracara. I’m at a grand total of 6 for the trip so far.

Also, the study abroad office at Messiah is called the Epicenter.

I was walking in the plaza de armas de Santiago today. There's pigeons everywhere, and one was drinking out of a puddle. I pointed and yelled at it, "You suck!".
heh heh

That's a little bird humor for you guys. It actually did happen, and walking around Santiago today was great. We visited the Palacio de Moneda, which used to be the presidential palace and is now offices for the executive branch of government. Chile is getting ready for a new president on March 11, and he's the first conservative president since Pinochet.

Meanwhile, I gave Michelle some tips on public speaking.

Santiago

I'm here! After traveling all of last night, I made it to Santiago. The excitement started when the pilot announced that his name was Murdock, which, for those of you astute enough to remember, was the name of the pilot from "The 'A' Team". Coincidence? I think not! My Spanish is a little rusty, but I think that'll get better soon. And I'm definitely better off than some. We saw a little of the city today, and the food is awesome! My lunch had cilantro in everything. Score.

Chile!

Hello everyone!
I will be traveling to Chile and studying abroad over the next five months at the Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, and staying with a host family in the city of Vina del Mar. I'll be updating this blog regularly with my adventures, insights, and general quirkiness. I leave on the 24th of Feb, and will be back at the end of July. I hope you find my musings interesting and come back for more!

Hasta Luego