Chile Forum

People are going to get the wrong impression. I'm actually very "refined".

No Crystal jokes, please.

Vicki

Hi Vicki
The parts are the bridge saddle and the nut.(you may need a spanish translation) Den keeps some blanks around and when one breaks he fashions a new one from the blank using sand paper and nail files. I' haven't talked with my cousin yet but I'm going to guess that this can be found in Chile. My husband bought a Chilean made churango (that uses a bridge and nut)in the North, but I'm going to guess there are small instrument makers all over the place.
But bridges and nuts get broken and are a common need for string instrument players and can be found in guitar shops.
here is a link to elderly instruments showing blanks. Of course we can send whatever you need with a little guidance as to how ,or bring some to Chile im September. Maybe with the travel back and forth from the Puerto Montt region that might be the place to look also.

http://www.elderly.com/accessories/cat_ ... t_on=title

A quick amarillos search for Santiaggo yielded the following
http://www.mesko.cl/

Maybe these guys over in Argentina could help
http://www.interpatagonia.com/paseos/la ... index.html

Is Futa off line again??????

I don't think so.

Futa is returning, family by family (and a couple of buses). We are still locked in a frozen snow but the roads are cleared and truckloads of snow are being hauled away. Lots of chimney stacks have to be replaced, the weight of the big snowfall, more so than the ash, damaged quite a number. Sector Azul faired well in the ashfall, however was nailed with the snow, some areas hip deep. A vet remained in Futa and looks to be fairly busy each time I pass by. A friend of ours, Guido Retamal, was happy they were here when his dog was badly injured injured by a car and had extensive leg and hip surgery. The community center still has a free veggie market in the afternoons. I haven't been to visit. Store are getting shipments of food, drinks and supplies in. Electric is fairly steady and phone lines are up and running (except for a few off-times last week). All three bakeries are baking away. Everyone here is chipping away at the ice and snow. The new filtration system is up and running for city water, and while it's fairly good, it's not as excellent as our old water source. Greg reports the Azul look pretty clear, while the Rio Espolon is still a bit milky. We've not seen the Futa yet.

Piloto Carmona, the street where our rental cabin is, is the only street in town that appears to get absolutely NO direct sun at all. None! The ridge juts up behind us here and the sun just doesn't quite make it high enough to smile down on us. In December however, we got the full sun treatment and just about croaked when afternoon temps got to the mid-90'sF.

Chaiten. What an awful tragedy. Here is a link to some photos of the town. I was shocked. http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2008/05/ ... otographs/

Helen, I will be going back to the states in August and will pick up my guitar parts there. Thanks for checking that out for me though.

Vicki

The chaiten photos are really sad. There is just nothing else to say about them.

The sdubdued buzz in the volcano circles is speculation as to what the recent shallow earthquakes near Hornopiren may be forcasting. Also a lot of questions as to why the USGS and IRIS are not reporting them.
http://ssn.dgf.uchile.cl/cgi-bin/sismo_cab.pl

http://diario.elmercurio.cl/2008/05/31/ ... bbf8df.htm

Friday, June 6. Weather is cold and rainy the past several days which is good for loosening up the crusty snow piled up everywhere. The roads outside of town are cleared and graded fairly well, streets in town are almost cleaned up (except for us po folks living on Piloto Carmona - we seem to be a last thought over here). The water filtration system here on Lago Espejo is a major, major operation. Lots of water tanks, filtration tanks, mobile lab, etc. The water department was downtown flushing either the city drainage system, or the water pipes. I didn't stop to ask...it was raining too hard. Several mornings last week we had a light dusting of new ash, just a faint film. No new snow, just rain.

A consequence of the surprise ash and snowfall is that people did not have all their winter wood in under cover. The ash covered everything, several centimeters, then we had at least four days of rain, then a foot and a half of snow. The wood is unusable now, creating a mad rush to find suitable firewood. Azul seems to be the only area that didn't have significant ashfall, but they also seem fairly cleaned out of firewood. The ash soaked up the rain and created a wet clay-like covering, the snow froze it, and well, you can imagine trying to get this stuff dry!

Futa has a vet here still working in the free clinic, she is from Puerto Montt. She operates out the the little round tourist center building in front of the library, next to the Carabineros. She currently has a small calf in there, a couple of chickens, a large white Rabbit (I call him Harvey), a cat, and a couple of dogs. After a very busy day yesterday, she came to our house and sedated the ever-pesky Max, psycho dog, and she and Greg transported him back to the clinic for a little snip-snip. I hope this helps calm him down, and it was definately the responsible thing to do. I'm not sure how the clinic and vets have been funded, but they absolutely refuse money for services. Local kids who are interested in being vets have been helping out. We did convince the vet to take a "thank-you" gift. (I hope that wouldn't get her in trouble).

We had a lovely turkey dinner with some folks here in town a few nights ago, excellent, excellent wine from a winery in Santa Cruz. Anyway, a couple of people hinted that they thought some store owners were charging higher prices for things. I have not noticed that happening, but then I don't pay enough attention sometimes. So, yesterday I went to three different places to stock up, and while cheese seemed to be pricey, and chicken was higher, the rest of the items were the same (price labels on the shelves were the same old labels that have been on there for many months). Fresh veggies are still a rarity in stores, except for potatoes and onions. The general consensus from several people in the fishing, sports industry here was that the rivers will be fully recovered soon, and the ash will create an incredible bloom of spring green.

Phone and internet and electric have gone off and on, but not as much as I would expect. My phone and internet were disconnected because I forgot to go see if my bill had arrived at the internet. I paid it, and it was back on in an hour.

Hay and other animal feeds continue to arrive at the community building at the soccer field. People are repairing collapsed chimney stacks. And looking for wood! We are using a propane portable heater and lots of wool clothing to stay warm. Working through the gritty laundry, enjoying having an oven to bake in (home-made pot pies and pizza), and one-by-one, welcoming back our friends.

Vicki
photos of the past couple of weeks are in the photo gallery section in my 'NEW" album.

thanks for the update. The nasa site has some recent sat photos. The ash cloud seems to be blowing heavy to the North of Futa fairly steadily, with the southern edge drifting slightly south towards Futa with the wind current changes. It seems to be settling down at least to something predictable. Well as much as volcanoes get anyway.

Friday Evening...I've visited the vet this evening to ask a question about Max who is recuperating after his demoralizing operation. She is here from Puerto Montt for two months, with one month left to go. She is a volunteer, and here only by the generosity of the folks of Futa. La Casona is hosting her in their B&B, the town is taking care of her meals. Other than that, it's simply her time, and insightfulness...tonight she was making sutures by sterilizing old syringe needles and crimping suture thread into the needle. They do not have enough basic medical equipment. Tomorrow she is expecting some things in, and tomorrow evening she will make a list of needs, one of which is immunizations, and I will put the list on here to see if I can purchase some things to be shipped here if anyone can locate them. Since there has never been a vet here, almost no one has records for immunizations for their pets (a serious problem when people were trying to evacuate to Argentina). A good thing would be a box of some of those immunization records books that pet immunization manufacturers make and give out for free.

She hopes to stay an additional month and train some Futans to do basic immunizations and care.

Of course, the people of Chaiten, and those affected in this area take priority. But any ideas or assistance for this much needed and appreciated service is greatly appreciated. I'll let you know what is needed tomorrow.
Vicki

Vicki, you are in luck. One of our clients donated some money for whatever in Futa without any real instructions as to what to do with it. So, I have been kind of at a loss for how to spend it. We will call you.

Charles,

I will get some photos this afternoon, and have the vet firm up the list of needed items, also I will provide her name and info. Interestingly enough, she is caring for a small calf that was left behind when the mother gave birth and had to be put down (don't know all the correct terminology here) in the rush to get cattle out. Someone brought the calf to her and it is now starting to eat well, but sleeps most of the time. Anyway, the farmer told her the calf is hers now, and I asked her what she would do with it in Puerto Montt?!?!?! She told me if it has the right disposition, she will keep him as a sort of pet and use him to teach students about veterinary care.

Anyway, for now, the tourist center has been taken over by all sorts of animals, the brochure display holds antibiotics and syringes. Just under the beautiful poster of rafting on the Futaleufu is a makeshift manger of straw, and the calf in a chicken wire and scrap-wood cage. The reception table holds a cardboard box with the big white rabbit. I am amazed at the "make-do" attitude and uncomplaining nature of all the vets who have donated time here in Futa. Not one has asked for anything, but had to be asked, "Do you need anything?"

It is hard to believe it was four weeks ago that the volcano blew for the first time. It seems like yesterday, yet last year. It has been a wild experience, humbling as I watched the town just get things done. There was a lot of outside help...water trucks from Palena, Argentina, Bomberos from Valdivia, Semi'-trucks of hay and food from Osorno, military troops from Aisen, vets from Santiago, and our own townspeople who kept the generator going, organized water distribution, the Carabineros passing out masks and checking on everyone, blocking the town square for protests, the hospital going 24-7 to treat not just ash-related ailments, but anything and everything for free, the remaining store owners who provided supplies with a promise of payment later. In the past five weeks we went from an awesomely blue and blustery day on May 1st, to dark, ash-filled days, to torrential rains, to a foot and a half of snow - the earliest ever recorded - to freezing rain, wind and now we seem to have settled into winter without ever truly having fall.

The outside help...it was priceless to see people from northern Chile who stepped out into the town square for the first time, with their eyes big, standing a bit disoriented with a look like, "Wow! A place like this actually exists?!" One of the first vets who arrived in Futa said to me that she thought life was very difficult here, and I was taken aback. No. Well, right now it is, but not really. It's just different here, and it kind of infects you the minute you arrive, and if you stay too long, it's too late to go back. And I don't think there is a cure.

I think putting together a campaign to get a full-time permanent vet in to Futa might be a worthy cause.

It is one of those things Futa has been lacking for a very long time, considering how many animals there are in the area and how many peoples net worth is tied up in their animals.

We know some human doctors that have been called on to help with delivering calves in the area, because there is no vet. The issue of people not being able to get their animals out because of vaccinations highlights the real need.

yea, it is not rebuilding Chaiten kind of cause, but it is perhaps a small and manageable project that people are going to need short and long term.

Even just arranging for a vet to come in once or twice a month would go a long way to improving the situation. Ideally getting a permanent vet would be best.

I think we could likely work out some sort of long-term building for a clinic. Someone in the community would likely lend one out.

Find some young vets that are willing to do say do a 3 or 6 month voluntary rotation, or perhaps with a small stipend / subsidy.

Basic equipment and supplies provided.

Hopefully the idea is that one of the vets might decide to stick around at some point.

I bet something could be figured out for around 500,000 CLP a month to start, and perhaps less once it is off the ground.

So, essentially we need to put together a Northern Exposure type program to kidnap a vet for Futa.

Saturday afternoon, a plane from Patagonia Airlines went missing around La Junta, just South East of Chaiten. 10 people were aboard, and they as yet to be able to locate the plane because of bad weather in the area. They believe it is somewhere around the Palena River, just North of La Junta. The temp was minus 10 below zero last night in the area, and there is fresh snow fall today.

For those that do not know the local Geography, La Junta ( Aysen) has become the new regional airport after Chaiten was closed for accessing Futa and the rest of Palena. Patagonia Airlines is one of only three airlines operating in the area. The airplanes are really the lifeline for that region, getting experts, medical supplies, and other vitals in to the area especially now that there is no way to land ferries in Chaiten.

It seems in this case the weather was bad, but the pilot deemed it sufficient to make the normal run.

The problem with that area as apposed to the rest of Chile, is the dramatic way air moves from the ocean to the mountains. The mountains are for the most part right up against the shore, and the valleys twist and turn the air over cold glaciers, warm valleys, lakes, and rivers. The air passing off the ocean, goes over Chiloe Island, gets turned up and warmed, then cooled again as it crosses strait, then runs smack in to mountain sides.

We have had some real gut turners flying in to Chaiten in the winter. Turbulence drops of 100+ meters in a few seconds, and then back up again.

We have flown on Patagonia several times, and know the people and the pilots. It is really sad. We are still trying to determine if anyone else we knew was on the plane.

Personally, I was never a great fan of their flying or their planes. They fly single prop Cessna 208 Caravans in an area with a reputation as some of the most difficult flying conditions in South America. They seemed to be heavy by the book instrument fliers and autopilot dependent, and always struck me as fair weather fliers. We don't fly on them in the winter.

I don't think they are bad pilots, just not the best in the area.

The one we prefer is Aero Taxi del Sur. The pilot is a second generation pilot in the region (dad started in like 1952) and can fly his twin prop Cessna at tree top level while taking a nap in a bad storm and still make you feel safe. They are the ones everyone uses for emergency evacuations in the area, and the pilot is hailed as a local hero because almost everyone in the region has had a family member saved by him. Aero Taxi is the phone number we have stuck on our office bulletin board in big bold letters for emergency evacuations of clients in the area.

The search was called off again tonight. Still no sign.

That is a hard piece of turf to search. It is a mix of mountains and valleys, cut off from each other by lots of rivers and streams that are flooded.

Most access will be by horseback. Things like motorcyles and 4x4's are fairly well useless once you leave the Austral highway this time of year, and you can only go so far on foot before you have to cross an icy creek.

Aircraft will have to fly an hour in and hour back to work the search zone, so that is at least two hours off their fuel. Fresh snow and the normal low hanging cloud cover in that valley means that seeing anything on the ground from an airplane is near impossible.

Most of the rivers and streams are heavily flooded, so boats will have to be brought in to cross them. A lot are normally crossed on horseback, but not this time of year with all the flooding in the area. The nights are below freezing, and getting wet in any serious way even in the day means hypothermia for the searchers let alone any survivors.

In the middle of the summer, it once took us 6 hours to cross the Rio Frio in an old leaky boat. The search grid as we understand is about 100 square km, based on the locator beacon; but in that area's geography it is like a 1,000 miles. Each little isolated location of say 5 or 10 km even when directly accessible on the ground can take all day to reach on horse back to be checked.

An old timer in the area told us stories about how they use to ride to Chaiten on horseback to get supplies from around the area where they are searching, and back. It was a 3 week trip in the winter time. Now there are roads and such, but still not easy to get to.