Run for the hills!

Oh my goodness...Chile is quakin'! This past week has been absolutely ridiculous. There have been at least 2 or 3 (a lot of times more!) earthquakes (or tremors "temblores" as they call them here) every single day! It's definitely not something you can get used to very easily. It's like we can never have a normal day here. Something is always changing (and not just the tectonic plates!). Today, however, was by far the worst one yet. I was at la Catolica (my university) taking a tour of the central buildling and we were on the fourth floor when a really big temblor hit (epicenter about an hour south of Santiago at a 6.9). The buildling shook for at least thirty seconds. Then two more quakes of similar strength struck about ten minutes and a half an hour after. Everyone seemed relatively calm, thinking that this was just a particularly strong temblor for the day but nothing to worry about. However, then everyone started running and they sounded the tsunami alarm. Everyone in my group walked up the fourth floor of the building we were in, but a lot of other students and staff ran for the hills....literally. I mean, when does that actually happen outside of the movies? After waiting on the fourth floor for an hour or so to wait for the threat to be lifted, we went down to the international office only to find out that those of us who live in Vina del Mar (meaning me) couldn't get home because the buses weren't running (assumably all the bus drivers also ran for the hills). And to top it all off, my cell phone wasn't working so I couldn't call my host mom to tell her I was ok. Fun times, no? So that was my day...interesting to say the least. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to these daily quakes...but I surely won't get used to these tsunami threats. Hey, Chile, take a chill pill!