La Semana del Terremoto....

Hey folks, well as you know there was a serious earthquake here early Saturday morning. I've been in touch with you guys and let you know I'm fine, I also just found out Adri's family in Concepcion, who they hadn't heard from, just got in touch and relayed they're ok. They don't have water, but they're fine, so that's good.

Anyways, the damage isn't too bad here in Santiago, there are some cracks in buildings, chunks of cement have fallen of churches and older buildings, but I haven't seen anything too terrible. The most noticeable affects would be that some traffic lights have been out, and quite a few stores/restaurants have been closed because employees haven't been coming in (and maybe a shortage of supplies from lack of shipments?).....

But yes we're ok....... I don't even really have any pictures of the damage around here because it's not too serious, but I'll keep my camera with me in case I come across some photo-worthy business.....

Buuuut since I haven't updated for almost two weeks (yikes!) I do have a couple photos from the past week or so.......


Ate at a little place by my house called Santo Pollo and had.... well I think it was called Granjera de Pollo..... era papas fritas, cebolla y pollo.... french fries, onion, chicken.... with a lil aji (hot pepper sauce) on there for good measure, gotta have my spice!! But it was great to have some chicken again..... soo much meat here!! haha.....

On Wednesday I was in Santiago and wanted to get back to the beach so I took a bus out to Maitencillo, then we drove down to Vina del Mar (well Con Con actually, but they're neighbors).... and I got to see my good friend from Tahoe, my buddy Felpa, was awesome to see him again.....

We went out for a little bit, and met up with another real good friend from Tahoe, my buddy Ivan:

The next day on the way back to Maitencillo we stopped at a friends house in Horcon, here's the view from her balcony:

Later that day I had lunch with Ethel Rodriguez, the roommate's mom in Maitencillo...... she made this carrot dish, not sure if we have anything like it in the states, it's called tortilla de zanahoria... con arroz y tomate:

Adriana had a bday/going away party Friday night, here's a pic of me, Adri, and Maca Rodriguez, my roommate's sister..... she just got back from her international vacation, and I have her to thank for where I'm living and the Maitencillo family...... anyways this picture was taken mayyybe 3 - 4hrs before the 'quake......


The next day, Ivan came by and picked me and Maca up.... we went out to his grandma's house to make sure she was alright (she lives alone)..... we were just stopping by but she ended up serving us some lunch..... she served us humita.... which is corn mashed up with some spices, maybe a little onion, and cooked in the husk....... yumm!!!

Me and the abuelita.... she was just the sweetest woman! She loves showing off her plants and is all smiles..... gotta love these Chileans!!

Ok folks, I'm really gonna try to do the update/week, preferably on Sunday/Mondays...... I'll keep you posted on the earthquake details, I just found out a grocery store here needs help packing up food to send down south so I'm gonna try to make it down there to help out..... I'll be in touch, love you all!!

abrazos y besos,
zak