Cities I've Visited

Downstairs

We were one of the first that arrived downstairs and it showed: Claudia in just her, rather summery, pyjama and in just my jeans, both barefoot. Not to mention the wide-eyed look on Claudia's face, like a deer caught in some lights. The people that came down after us came more prepared: in warm clothes and bringing blankets and bags. I decided that an after shock would not come in the first minutes after the first, so if I was to go back to our apartment I would better do it right away. There was one small problem, neither of us had brought a key...

I ran back up the stairs, bumping into people rounding the corners which provoked some typical Chilean curses send in my direction. I was already one flight up deciding that I would just kick the door in, if I would find it closed. But when I opened the door of the staircase I saw our door was wide open further down the hallway. And to my surprise the phone was ringing inside.

Inside the apartment it was total darkness and with haste I felt my way around towards the ringing. It was Claudia's sister, asking if we were alright. Out of breath I spat out some words indicating that we were okay and after she said she would try and call Claudia's parents we hung up. Using the light of my mobile phone that I found in my pants I put on some more clothes and shoes, threw some of Claudia's clothes in a blanket, grabbed her mobile phone and filled a bottle with water. This time I remembered to pick up the keys and closed the door and locked it. When I came back downstairs there were a lot more people hanging around, and I gave Claudia her clothes so she could get dressed.

Waking up

Imagine for a minute you are on a boat, and it's rocking violently back and forth. Imagine it is night and all the lights are out. Imagine your bedroom is placed inside this boat and you're in bed. That's how I woke up early this Saturday morning. Within moments Claudia and I were standing besides our bed and while I was putting on a pair of jeans that were lying besides the bed she was pulling at me saying "we have got to leave, we have got to leave".

We made our way through our apartment, bumping into a wall or two along the way. When we got to our front door I didn't understand why Claudia was taking so long to open the door and almost wanted to shove her aside and do it myself. At that moment the door opened and I now know that during an earthquake doors have a habit of getting stuck. We crossed the hallway, sparsely lit by some of the lights that must have been connected to the emergency power of the building, and made our way down the stairs where we encountered several other inhabitants. We must have taken more than 3 minutes in total because when we got to the buildings entrance hallway the shaking had stopped.

Shaken (pun intended) but okay.

Time to make a shopping list to be better prepared next time:

• Flashlight
• Portable radio
• Camping burner
• Matches 

And put it all in a prepacked bag with (warm) clothes and some blankets. Hmm I forgot the Whisky. Anything else I forgot?

(Ab)using CNC Polishing Machines.