Concepcion: Chile Parte IV

Well, I write now from the lovely Concepcion, about a 8 hour bus ride south from Santiago, on the coast. We were greated by a nice group of people and I was swept to the home of Jaqueline Perez and her two children Alejandro y Fernanda. I have to confess that for a few hours I couldn`t remember if it was Alejandra and Fernando or Alejandro and Fernanda....so confusing! But, I eventually figured it out and had a fab night of sleep in a SUPER warm home with a wood burning stove that fills my soul (and the rest of the house) with joy! I was all prepared for more of roughing-it lifestyle, but so far, I find Concepcion to be a sort of paradise! Warm homes, warm people, warm shower. Excelente!

Concepcion is a different ballgame, however. We have been separated from half our original group, who are now in a touristy city called Valparaiso, so now we number 6, and we are in a city that was heavily damaged from the 8.8 earthquake and sunami from 2010. First thing I saw driving home was a 20 story building that had fallen over and split in half!!! Unbelievable, I`m telling you; unlike anything I`ve ever seen. We have already heard several stories of the day of the terremoto and how the tremors, los temblores, are nothing now, compared to what they have experienced in the past. Another family I visited today lives in a super nice, small home, which they have lived in only about 6 months. Their prior home was destroyed by the sunami. These people are troopers. There is some construction around, but overall, it`s kind of difficult to tell that an earthquake happeded at first glance (ok, except for that building knocked in half).

Compared to my last homestay, this family is full of energy. We are up and at em at 6 30 and we leave at 7 15 (Jaqueline is a teacher, so has an earlier schedule). The presence of teens makes everything more interesting, and we get along well. As I speak, I am listening to Alejandro play soccer on his gaming system, and I am struggling to type on a HP notebook, with a Chilean keyboard. The most difficult to type is apostrophe because its not used in Spanish, so it`s rediculousy hard to type. On the other hand, these are snap:ñ, Ñ ¡ ¿ One key stroke and bam!

Today we went to a nearby town and checked out an open air market. I am loving being in a metropolitan of only 1.000.000 instead of 5.000.000 people. Way more relaxed and less stress for me. Except there are still perros callejeros everywhere!!!!

¡Saludos!