The Earthquake

During a nightly stroll along the beach front Florencia and I were looking at the big signs that advised you what to do and where to run if a Tsunami was coming. I was explaining how an earthquake usually is the culprit and how a shift in the ocean floor creates the wave.

We were joking about seeing one and the time you probably had to run for the hills being so short the sign would be much good.

Off we went to sleep after a nice meal and a beer zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

At 3:30 ish (I am not quite sure) we were woken and Florencia was saying "can you feel that?" "Feel what" I said. The next moment the wardrobe door was shaking and the coat hangers behind it were dancing in a desperate attempt to jump out, amplifying the sound. I was still just waking up not totally sure what was happening. I looked out the window and as I did so I felt the floor swaying back and forth and for the next few minutes there was no more doubt what was happening. Flore in a flash was dressed and ready I was still in my pants trying to find my trouser leg, she picked up the baby and ran for the stairs. I was a minute behind her and the 7 floors of stairs and the night air made sure I was fully awake.

We waited outside with all the other hotel guests who were rudely awoken for about an hour to make sure the hotel didn't fall down. We eventually went back upstairs to bed and I dropped off quite quickly. The hotel shook more that night and the next day several times, it wasn't a nice feeling. We were lucky because we had planned to be in Santiago at this time and the city took a large hit.