8.8!!!

Hey y'all,

Thanks for your emails of concern. Apparently we really weren't supposed to leave Bariloche yesterday. As many of you clearly heard, Chile sustained an enormous earthquake early this morning--with flying colors, as far as we can tell. The power just came back on, infrastructure in our area sustained minimal damage, and for the most part it's been a mellow Saturday in Villarrica.

We're staying in a hostel run and frequented by Europeans, who clearly don't experience earthquakes like this back in the motherland. Our second floor room in an old wooden house was swaying like a ship in high seas for the better part of 5 minutes...long enough for us to wake up, wonder what was happening, sit in bed for a while, hear objects crashing to the floor and shrieks in German, French, and Spanish, open the door to look out, sit back down as the shaking intensified, grab a headlamp and shoes, feel the shaking lessen, and decide to scurry downstairs. It was by far the longest terremoto we've ever experienced.

The Swiss den mother took a headcount on the patio as the Euros consoled each other. It was the Californians' turn to display a slight aire of superior smugness, as we deal with such things on a regular basis.

Now that the power is back on, our plans have changed somewhat, since the trails up the volcano are closed for avalanche watch. We have a bottle of dry carmenere that we were lucky to have purchased before the stock at the grocery hit the floor.

All is well. Shaken, not stirred.

D & O