Forgive me the big use of band width, I only have moments that I can be online, if at all.
Feb. 26 Earthquake Update from Pucón, Chile March 1, 2010
I'm visiting in the southern part of Chile with a friend. We are fine.
The after shocks have been small ones, just enough to keep us alert and prepared to respond quickly. We are 180 miles south of the epicenter
of Concepción where it was 8.8 and all the looting is going on. I have friends who live in Concepcion that I have not been able to locate yet. That will be on my agenda as long as I'm here. The girl who was named after me by her parents when I lived here are living in Concepción.
It was plenty strong where we are, throwing us out of bed and tossing us about
while the building rocked and rocked with the curtains flying like we were in a wind storm and the wall pictures flapping like bird wings. We could feel the whole building moving under us, back and forth, not jerky or sharp, just strong
rocking and rolling. Thankfully this hotel is perched on a solid bed of lava rock. And thankfully we are on the ground floor with no more floors above us. There is a seismologist staying at this hotel in Pucón and said that his instruments registered an 8.7 in the volcano just behind us.
As soon as we got tossed out of bed at 3:40 a.m., we turned the lights on, only to have them go off while we groped and stumbled or way towards the door to stand in the door frame. It was too far to hope to make it out of the hotel or even to the end of the hall which was lined with glass, the lights started to blink on and off, making it seem surreal as we kept our backs to the hall windows and braced against the door frame hoping the building wouldn't slide down the hillside into the lake. While we half stood, wobbling, I remember saying WOAAAH, a couple of times in amazement at the force. It was certainly a scary moment, but didn't seem as violent as others that I have been in when I lived in Santa Fe, Chile.
We were on back up generator until today, so it wasn't so bad for us. In fact, the owner (a friend of ours) is without power and water at her house, so comes to the hotel to shower. Our power is back on now and it seems that we are getting intermitent internet connection if we stand in the right place and hold our mouth just right. So, here's hoping that this goes through.
Our flight north to Viña del Mar has been cancelled, but we are in the process of rescheduling and hopefully can leave in a couple of days.
That's it from the far south.
BeaSong~
_________________________
B~
"Come Watson, the Game is afoot!"
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Glad you and your friend are okay!!! 
for the update BeaSong. I'm glad you are ok. Stay well and get home safe. 
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