How An Earthquake Changed My Life
“How long until we feel an earthquake?” He asked, taking my hand.
I didn’t answer right away, being distracted by the plane taking off. This was it, no going back now.
“Probably a long while.” I finally answered. It was the same response I’d given every time he’d asked. A naive one, I’d come to learn. In my other hand was a one-way plane ticket to Santiago de Chilé and I watched out the window as the “land of the free, home of the brave” shrank beneath the wings of the plane.
Colorado had been home all my life. There, I have a wonderful family who gives me more love and support than I could ask for. I have kind, intelligent friends whose company I enjoy endlessly, but I always knew I wouldn’t stay forever. There’s a whole world out there that needs exploring and I had stumbled upon someone who felt the same way. A year after meeting J we both found ourselves faced with some financial freedom and flexibility and we decided to search for life outside of the land of Walmart and Applebee’s. We decided to venture south, way south. We decided to go live in Chilé.
Three months of planning, downsizing my entire life into a backpack and too many goodbyes, before finally the day was upon us and we were boarding the plane. I love that moment of surrender on an airplane when you leave the ground, there’s something inside of me that happily unwinds. The eight-hour flight passed quickly, I woke to the captain announcing our imminent touch down, in Spanish. We had arrived.
Our plan was to spend a week in Santiago, getting our bearings in this new place. We walked around much of the city, visiting parks and hiking Cerro San Cristobal, a hill in the center of the city. Accepting the looming language barrier with humbled laughter, we began the process of learning Spanish through cultural immersion. At our hostel we were befriended by a chummy Uruguayan who seemed to be permanently residing there. We both caught a stomach bug and then developed the same cough everyone in the hostel seemed to have. Despite this, we managed to see much of the city and have a good time. After a week in Santiago we caught two seats on a bus to the coast.
Our destination was Valparaíso, located on the central coast of Chilé. Valparaíso is a loud, bustling port city surrounded by hills, called “cerros” in Spanish. The cerros are covered in brightly colored homes and the streets are lined with beautiful graffiti everywhere you look. Famous for its bohemian culture, Valparaíso has attracted artists and poets like Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda, who loved Valpo so much he built a mansion at the top of Cerro Bellavista which today boasts one of the best views in the entire city.
Stray dogs roam the streets, with all sorts of mutts looking balefully for the next person who doesn’t want to finish their whole empanada. The city has an antiquated feel, richly steeped in history while displaying a modern, kaleidoscopic flare and we couldn’t wait to dive in.
With backpacks on, we left the bus station and wound through crowded streets lined with mountains of produce and their corresponding vendors. Shuffling our way through the bustle for several blocks until we finally spotted the tiny door to our hostel. Paul checked us in, gave us a tour and assured us to just ask if there was anything we needed. He was a backpacker from Germany who had fallen in love with Valparaíso and decided to stay. Apart from a very strange smell we were never able to pinpoint, the room was comfortable. Paul invited us for tea later that evening where he taught us about the city and inquired about our plans in Chilé. Later, we would be quite thankful we had such a knowledgeable host.
The next day, with the sunshine beckoning us to explore this famous city, we took a short walk to the historic district and made our way up Cerro Concepción. There, we photographed some of the city’s remarkable graffiti. Going back down the hill gave us a stunning view of the port servicing cargo ships and the expansive ocean beyond. By the time we reached the bottom of the hill, we were completely enchanted with Valpo’s charms.
We returned back in the early evening to a busy kitchen. Our hosts were preparing a treat; a Chilean beverage aptly named Terremoto, Spanish for “Earthquake”. Part pineapple ice cream, part pipeño white wine, throw in a couple shots of your preferred liquor and mix it all together in a large, punch-like jug. It’s a sweet treat that will knock you on your butt, just like an Earthquake.
Valparaíso is located in a seismically active region and is part of the Ring of Fire, a large fault line that spans the Pacific Ocean. Chilé as a whole is the second most seismically active country on earth, after Japan. It has had the 1st and 6th largest earthquakes since 1900 (9.5/ 8.8). Culturally, earthquakes are an unspoken part of everyday life. By living in Chilé you are quietly accepting the fact that at anytime, without warning, the earth beneath you can give way and reduce sturdy buildings to rubble.
Outside, the sun was about to start setting and the air felt pleasantly cooled by the ocean only two blocks away. Three stories up, the hostel had a roomy, rooftop deck with a small garden which housed a friendly white rabbit and a local tomcat. We sat atop one of the big wooden benches, sharing a hot cup of yerba mate. I sat cross-legged with the cat sleeping deeply on my lap. The rabbit, unable to join us on the bench, was anxiously hopping laps around the deck waiting for his friend to wake up. We had been discussing our day and a few of the surreal murals we had seen, when J asked me curiously, “How often do you think someone here will be talking about an earthquake right before one happens?”
“I guess it depends on how frequently they really happen…” I responded, tempting fate.
“If I lived here, I would build a raft on my roof.”
“Why the roof?” I wondered.
“Because when the tsunami comes you can just float away!” I laughed, but he didn’t seem to be joking. The evening was calm and I sat there admiring our reckless bravery and fortune to be here in this beautiful city on such a balmy night. I looked at J and smiled just as something began to tickle my inner ear.
Thanks for reading! Read Part 2 here Follow mine and 