The Tidal Wave that Never Was

It was a bad day to take a trip to Iquique. And that's just what I (Anna) decided to do this afternoon, about an hour after a 7.2 earthquake shook central Chile. As a preventative measure, Iquique decided to evacuate the city in preparation for a tsunami. I wasn't privy to this information when I got on the bus in Alto Hospicio. I made the 40 minute trek down the mountain to Iquique and realized my problem as soon as I arrived.

As the bus entered the city, I was faced with hundreds of people who had left the coast in search for higher ground. Just as I was descending the mountain, these hundreds of people were looking for away to get up! Needless to say, I didn't make it to the post office or to the art store as I had hoped. I wasn't too worried about a tsunami, but it was interesting to see people's reactions and the way they handled the situation.

Lots of people carried their dogs with them. The local convenience store was swarmed with people buying the necessities - bottled watter, potato chips and cigarettes. I also bought a couple of essentials (ginger ale and a sandwich) and walked over to the bus stop to return home. It quickly became apparent that this was not going to happen! There was a swarm of people waiting for buses and taxis, which passed by without stopping because they were already beyond capacity. A few kind souls with private vehicles and space stopped to pick up elderly women, mothers with small children or neighbors. Interestingly though, about 80% of the cars passed by empty, racing by the nervous crowd in order to beat the "tidal wave."

I think that Iquique earned a "Needs Improvement" grade in regards to Brotherly Love. In conclusion, the next time I'm in Iquique during an earthquake or tsunami warning, I'll get started early and walk up the mountain. I'm sure I'll make it to the top before the buses make it through the traffic jam.

Around Town

"Auntie Em"

Apparently, there are sand twisters in the desert. We spotted this one near the Chilean/Bolivian border and were much more amazed than the locals.  We were kind of scared to go near them, remembering the wind raging tornadoes from the movie Twister.  But, it passed us pretty close by and was far less threatening.

Ghost Towns and Gypsy Curses

After a wonderful 3-week visit, David's parents flew back to the United States yesterday.  It was tough saying goodbye and we're all going to miss them. We did a lot interesting things during their time here.  We went to the beach, visited an oasis, saw 1,000 year old hieroglyphics, and explored an abandoned ghost town.  The biggest event, however, was Joshua's baptism on March 1st.  We'll tell you all about the baptism in a future post, but for now we thought we'd tell you about a funny little incident that happened during our trip to the ghost town of Humberstone.

On our way to the abandoned mining town we stopped at a gas station.  As David was pumping air into the tires, a gypsy woman carrying a bare-bottomed toddler approached the car.  Unsurprisingly, she began asking David's dad for money.  David's dad promptly used one of his favorite Spanish expressions, "No español!".  She then replied with the only English phrase she probably knew "Money!" (which came out sounding like Mow-knee).  David's dad simply shook his head.  Unphased, she turned to David who denied her before she could even begin her plea.  She walked away mumbling under her breath with a sour expression on her face.

So the five of us continued on to Humberstone, a town that was built during the mid-1800's and abandoned about 60 years ago when the mines dried up.  We walked through empty houses, a creepy old theatre, a small-wooden chapel, a tiny little school, and big processing plants.  It was fascinating to see how people lived in a small, closed off community in the middle of the driest desert in the world.  

While the rest of us were taking in the sites, David was busy snapping picture after picture in every dark corner he could find.  He's still convinced that there are actual ghosts living in the ghost town.  See the picture below for his "proof."

Anyway, after several hours of exploration we headed back to the car.  We were busy loading up the stroller, the diaper bag, and all the other million baby accessories we were toting around with us when David's dad said, "Oh, no, the tire is flat!".  We all  moaned in unison.  As David was taking out the spare and preparing to get his hands greasy a sudden truth dawned on one of us.  The tire that David was filling with air when the gypsy had given her spiel was the very tire that was now flat.  Now the gypsy woman certainly hadn't been carrying a knife, but many people in Chile believe gypsies don't need weapons to punish their enemies.  Gypsies here are most famous for the curses they cast. We all laughed at the idea that this gypsy with a colorful skirt and a baby in hand might have cursed us.  Unlike many of the Chileans who believe in these curses whole-heartedly, none of us are particularly superstitious.  But this was a funny coincidence (or was it?).

We successfully changed the tire and made it home without further incident.  Next time a gypsy approaches, we're going to have some spare change on hand.     

Humberstone (with our cool knitted hats, courtesy of David's brother Mark's girlfriend)

Ghostly orbs in the town's theatre.

Hieroglyphics over a 1000 years old

Cursed