Chile Forum

I remember this kind of hazy progression of my thinking from the initial moments after, to the hours, to the days, and weeks that followed. Passing from one 'oh shit, we got bigger problems to worry about' moment, to 'oh shit we got even bigger problems than those'. My wife and I were traumatized, but as we started getting a grip on the full scope of the event we realized we were in really good shape and even if we were not we did not have time to think about it.

First, it was just the two of us sitting in the kitchen in the early hours doing an assessment of where we stood and what we needed to do, after the obligatory check of our supplies (we had three plus months of food on hand).

We just resolved that our buisness was toast. We would never see another gringo again in Chile (even if the damage was minimal), and figured we would need to find something else to do for a living. Not the first time my wife and I have changed professional directions in our life. We had made the decision that we could keep the girls that worked for us through the end of the month and could make payroll, but would need to cut them loose as soon as possible.

Then there was that progression of getting bits and pieces of information as the first day went on. We made contact with our family. We talked to the girls that worked for us. We contacted all the clients we could reach. we took a tour of Temuco, bought a radio. Everyone seemed shaken, but otherwise fine. We thought it might not be all that bad.

Then we got internet back, and I checked the forum. That was really when I started panicking, and realized we needed to do something. I expected the usual suspects to be chatting up the forum, but we were being hit hard with traffic from all over the world and we had people registering looking for people. The forum was up and running, but almost every other site related to Chile was down including the police and government offices. That was the "oh shit, we really have bigger problems to worry about" moment.

The girls came in for a meeting at our house. When we seen their faces in person we realized we could not let them go. It was obvious it was not about the money primarily with them. They were looking to us for some sort of stability. All we could promise at that point is that we would try and hold it together as long as possible. We figured we were unemployed anyway, so why not jump in to helping find people, then the aid flights, and so on.

In the meantime, our buisness magically came back on its own. People were calling to hire us, and many simply never made the connection between us, Chile, and the earthquake (still do not understand that). If anything we had more new client contacts, and a whole mess of clients that we had not spoken to in a while got back in touch again.

It was many weeks later before we finally got a break to reassess just exactly what our own personal situation was, when we took a short vacation to Frutillar to visit some friends. That was when I said to my wife, "if we are going to make the move, this is the time to do it". Temuco was originally a temporary stop for us because my wife was teaching at the university there, and it had dragged out a few years too long. Everything was upside down anyway, so moving was a rather minor logistical operation for us after all the chaos of the weeks before. We had been planning to build a house for years, and neither of us could get ourselves excited about building in Temuco.

So, what has changed? I realized I did not want to be in a major urban area, a car was good thing to have in emergency (always had drivers in Chile), and we should likly have a way to generate electricity (finally bought the generator last week), and definitely would prefer an office with a view of something besides other buildings that is not made out of concrete (ours office building survived in Temuco, but was damaged all the same). I took the time to get a dog, because I really need a dog. Bought a property and now we are working on building a house that is hopefully at least earthquake tolerant, if not earthquake proof. Even if not, I would still rather sit in a pile of rubble after the next big one and take in the view of the lake and volcanoes.

Overall, it was not so much that we are doing anything different than we had planned before the earthquake. Almost everything we are doing we had been talking about doing for years really. It was that it motivated us to do it NOW. Not someday.

Pichilemu is noticably better than before the quake. Our dunes really helped minimalize most of the tsunami damage.
The boardwalk is rebuilt and looking better than ever.
The cultural center ("Excasino monument") almost refurbished, and really nice. Some good art exhibits etc.
Alot of private and public support rehoused most all of the adobe dwelling families better than before in the surrounding outskirts.
All roads have been repaired, again many better than before.
Our airstrip is now paved.
Our Muni didn't steal all the funds that came our way, and still are coming in. We had just set the record with 4 mayors in a row jailed, so that's meaningful to us.
But the press has given us some pretty crappy press just the same. For some reason they associate us with catastrophy. Hasn't helped tourism this season at all.
Some of the solidarity actually continues to this day.
So believe it or not in the balance we're definitely better off.

But the press has given us some pretty crappy press just the same. For some reason they associate us with catastrophy. Hasn't helped tourism this season at all.

HA! imagine that! coastal chile associated with catastrophe!

after the aftershocks in early february of this year, which compelled the carabineros to clear the beaches here in dichato (turns out the epicenter of the first and biggest aftershock was only 15 km from us, and underwater....), pinera gave a speech trying to calm everyone down. he said that the aftershocks were likely to continue for 5 years.....thanks, dude....that's the way to boost tourism til 2015.

truth is, people almost always have time to get away from a tsunami. you just have to be aware that that's what you need to do. after what happened in indonesia in 2006, the whole world should be aware of that. we also need to remember that the waves move slowly in shallow water.....that's why the big wave took three hours to reach us from cobquecura.

Is the documentary on tonight? I cannot find it in the history channel.

The exact moment is passing right now.

The president is speaking now on tv.

The pull of Chile is still strong.

My heart and Heineken, are humbled and raised; to every allchile(er).... Charles, Cali, the list goes on...

All you who've given your all to Chile - - - - -

I poignantly recall the challenge and response from members a year ago -----

In fear of waxing to poetically, I'll simply say thanks to the pioneers who've survived and remained and continue to fight for Chile.

Our Chile adventure has been delayed (for at least five years) by grad school in the US - but hearts are strengthened by the reality of those living the dream.

O.k., I am going to lock this thread now. Perhaps we can revisit next year to see how far Chile has come (or not) in that time.