News from Chile

From Barbara, who used to live in Chile.
She and Larry will be visiting Tilling next
week. They are only here for a few days - book 'em quickly -

Here are extracts from her post earthquake letter;

'Everywhere we founds roads being rebuilt. Some overpasses
just broke off and fell flat. So we did a lot of detours, usually
with good signage, but not always. We drove south down the
coast from Zapallar, lunched in Valparaiso, where downtown
had minor damage. The quais showed long cracks and here
and there you saw cracks in buildings or a pile of rubble brought
out from inside.

The new airport had no major structural damage but ceiling
panels fell in and damaged a lot of shops, offices. But by the time
we returned to the airport there were a number of shops open
and a couple small restaurants. It was a good example of efficient
organization. We went as far as Santo Domingo along the coast...
found no restaurants open. We bought the makings of sandwiches
and ate in the car by the beach, out of a cold wind, then walked.

We did stop at Pablo Neruda's house at Isla Negra and did the tour.
First time Larry and I have been able to get inside. Three other
times we have found it closed to the public. Wonderfully eccentric
house, full of collections, mostly connected with the sea.
In Santiago his house is similarly eccentric but without the amazing
view. At Isla Negra the windows all capture the sea which roars in
over jagged black rocks . We spent the night a few meters down a
sandy road in a tired old inn run by retired folklorist singers.

Country towns all had rubble piles along the streets and
occasionally you saw a whole building down. We did not venture
farther South where whole towns are down. Lovely old Talca
has lost its entire historic center and big Concepcion has
apparently lost much of the old city and some of the new.
A friend reports her grandfather's house fell in, with eight
family members sleeping inside. They did manage to get out
but since then have had to mount guard over the rubble.

Air was dry, dry, dry. Andes shrouded in smog most days in town.
Skyscrapers have replaced the gracious old houses of Providencia
and Los Condes so we could barely see bits of mountains from the
school or even from an 8th floor apartment that used to have a
great view over the top of the British Embassy residence and its
gardens. The residence used to be downtown. I remember
freezing in a downtown church during a concert, then going onto
the embassy for dinner and being seated by the Bishop of
Bradford, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury not long
afterward. The Ambassador had been out shooting so the main
course was little birds, quail, I think. Neither the bishop nor I
could cut into our birds which simply had not cooked long enough
so we enjoyed a vegetarian dinner and giggled rather than have
our birds skitter unto our laps. Too funny. There we were in
evening clothes, gradually warming up from the freezing church,
waiters in white gloves!, and we could not eat our birds."