Bienvenida a Chile

Somehow it's nearly a week since I arrived in Chile, and sitting on the bus on my way to Concepcion I can't imagine a better reception, nor better company in which to have spent my first week. From here its all unknown and everything that happens will be my own doing.

Yesterday I felt my first ever earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, complete with nocturnal aftershocks and rumbling tremors. A gentle reminder of the power hidden not too far below the surface of the earth. But Chile is used to earthquakes; it's an unusual day but not extraordinary by any means and as soon as it was established that the epicentre was inland rather than at sea, nobody really cares too much. It's the tidal waves that are dangerous.

We were in the street at the time so didn't feel it as strongly - imagine standing on the university roundabout as a tram passes below and you get a pretty good idea of how it feels, complete with the noise that comes beforehand, it actually took me a minute to work out that there was no metro anywhere nearby!

 

Aside from the excitement of plate tectonics, Valparaiso is a beautiful city, so full of creativity that it's literally bursting from the walls. There are murals everywhere and brightly painted houses blur across the hills, interspersed with the iron oxide of old rooves and faded façades. Aesthetically interesting and buzzing at all times of day, the city has a lot to offer, even if its just a case of wandering the streets which we did a lot of. I also went to a salsa class with one of Pierre's housemates, saw sealions and pelicans, went to the feria, boarded down sand dunes and watched two sunsets.

In between all of that, it was fantastic to see Pierre again. Hopefully it'll be less than a year and a half until our next reunion. As expected, the house was full of couchsurfers of varying nationalities, but also a good number of Chileans, allowing me to somewhat get used to the accent before being thrown in at the deep end. A few good games of dixit and uno (including one round in polish) and I seem to have secured myself a place to stay in Valpo, even though Pierre won't be there much longer.

I'm really glad I came to Chile early before starting work. Even though I won't have much time to get to know the city before starting, I've been able to get to grips with some of the most common chilenismos, whilst also reminding myself how Latin American life works.