Another sad time for the world

[pops1]

Just so much sadness and chaos in this world at the moment.I have spent the day trying to get news about my Chilean host daughter and her family who come from Conception in Chile.Good News... she managed to get news out that they are safe but their house looks like a write off but who cares about a house as long as they are all ok.My son is also frantically ringing every hour to find out news about his Chilean host family especially his 95 year old host Grandmother who took a lonely 16 year old Aussie boy to her heart and helped him adjust to living in Chile she comes from the poorest part of Valpariso and lives in a shack on a mountain side,not the best place to be in an earthquake.All we can do is pray that they are all ok.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you "Chile" in your time of need.

 

[IanT]

Yeah, it is nuts... Thankfully the earthquake in Chile was a deep earthquake so the reverb was not as much as you think once it got to the surface, the buildings in Chile are mostly made to handle those types of occurances... Unlike Haiti where it was a surface crust quake... Way more violent and no buildings were built to handle quakes.

My mom is in costa rica right now and they issued a tsunami warning shortly after the quake that expired around 10:30 yesterday morning, she emailed me to let me know things were okay but they were going up the mountain just in case. It never hit, but I heard it did hit Hawaii at like 5 ft, which is small beans for them so I doubt there was any damage or anything.

Hoping everyone in Chile is okay, but from what I heard from my mom it wasn't as bad as the media is making it out to be...

Still my heart is with everyone down there through the chaos , hope everyone is okay!

 

[pops1]

All good news ,everybody is ok ,gosh its hard when its so far away and you have no contact.My sons host family lost the top story of their house but apart from that they are fine even Grandmother Inez .
Where we live we have tiny little tremors occasionally mostly we don't even feel them ,cant imagine what it must be like to live with tremors all the time
l have often wondered how people cope living in Chile, Japan,New Zealand or places like that where its a constant occurrence.
Did you see on the news how people were going down to the beach to look at the fish that had been left high and dry ,can't believe after all the last Tsunami that people would be so stupid.I would be like your Mother heading for the nearest mountain quick smart.

 

[IanT]

All good news ,everybody is ok ,gosh its hard when its so far away and you have no contact.My sons host family lost the top story of their house but apart from that they are fine even Grandmother Inez .
Where we live we have tiny little tremors occasionally mostly we don't even feel them ,cant imagine what it must be like to live with tremors all the time
l have often wondered how people cope living in Chile, Japan,New Zealand or places like that where its a constant occurrence.
Did you see on the news how people were going down to the beach to look at the fish that had been left high and dry ,can't believe after all the last Tsunami that people would be so stupid.I would be like your Mother heading for the nearest mountain quick smart.

Yeah that is NUTS... as soon as I saw water receeding like that, in my brain=run for the hills as fast as you can!

especially after the Sri Lanka occurance.

Glad to hear everyone is okay.. I saw some crazy pictures of buildings toppled over on the news, yikes!

Yeah my mom says since she has been down in costa rica (she has a house down there and spends like 4-5 months out of the year there because her work is seasonal... shes right in Playa Hermosa, and apparently there were at least like 10-15 earthquakes since she has been there... they are quite often over there but never really damage anything.. worst thatll happen is a boulder on some mountain will become dislodged and roll down into the road or worse, a house..

Ive never felt one but she said its the oddest thing, almost like being drunk and not able to get your balance... id love to feel one at some point, just not a crazy one.... Ill be there in 28 days from today!

(wooooooohooooO!!!)

 

[pops1]

Lucky person ,please write and tell us about your holiday when you get back l love to hear about far away places but mostly about the people and how they live their day to day lives.

 

[Tabitha]

Glad they are all well.

 

[IanT]

Lucky person ,please write and tell us about your holiday when you get back l love to hear about far away places but mostly about the people and how they live their day to day lives.

Oh I will be sure to chronicle the trip and have loads of pics

I can tell you what life is like there already though as... This will be pushing at least my 20th trip down there....

to sum it up in a few word... its the promised land... lol

The ocean meets the jungle. People all are so happy and live in the spirit of Pura Vida (pure life/living), the country doesnt spend money on an army...instead they provide free school to its citizens until college (which they then need to pay for... but isnt overly expensive)... their literacy rate is among the highest in central america because of that...

Some parts still dont have electricity... some parts (like San Jose) have bigger malls than I can find here in the USA!!

I like the parts where its still largely undeveloped... you can find fruit right on the trees; guava, breadfruit, papaya, bananas, you name it...

Also, local fishermen will drive around with their icechests selling their catch door-to-door.... they will sell you humongous shrimp, sushi-grade tuna, lobsters, crabs, whatever you wish...all fresh off the boat...still squirming (lol) and cheaaaaaaaap....

Its getting more expensive now as the US tourism takes more of an influence there, theyre starting to catch on to how much the country will pay for things etc... but when I first started going down there you could eat for a family of 4; 3 course King/Queen banquet style meals for like $25/day!!!!!!!!

there are volcanoes, huge bugs (not the place for you if you hate big bugs lol), earthquakes, crocs/alligators/caymen, monkeys (which will steal anything you have and take it up into the trees...literally theyll pick your pockets, take a backpack, drink your rum-punch....)

and the surf....ohhhh the surf....

nuff said

 

[pops1]

Gosh its a wonder you haven't packed your bags and headed down for good.Thankyou for giving me an idea what its like there, you have a great way of describing things.We have a Honduran host son and Honduras sounds similar to Costa Rica from the way he describes it.
We love Thailand ,its like our second home and we try to get there once a year.Its not like Costa Rica though people are inclined to think of Thailand as being backward but we have found its a lot more advanced than people think but its the Thai people that attract us totally different from a lot of preconceived ideas that the rest of the world have of them .
Don't forget lots of photo's and have a ball

 

[IanT]

yeah I would guess its very similar to honduras... oooh I wish I could go to Thailand.. I would LOVE to visit there sometime, waves.... awesome monestaries...

lol yeah I have thought of shredding my ticket home many a time... trouble is my girl would hate me for it... and Id have to leave the country for 72 hrs every 90 days so I didnt get arrested for not being a citizen lol...

other than that yeahhh all I would need is a hut and my surfboard/wax and im good to goooooo