My OperaSeaside Hotels and Such
Sunday, March 13, 2011 3:07:00 AM
I landed in Chile to hear the news of the horrifying disaster in Japan. Realizing that I had conveniently booked a waterfront hotel, with a clear view of the Pacific Ocean, and nothing but a small sea wall between me and Japan, I was a little concerned.
I arrived at the Hotel yesterday evening about 7:00 and asked about the Tsunami. On the drive in from the airport, the radio was full of an emergency news conference about an evacuation, but I could not understand much, due to my impressive command of the Spanish Language. At the front desk they said, they would come up to our rooms and inform us if an evacuation was necessary. I go to my roon and turn on the TV and find CNN Chile. Hmmm, that looks like my hotel. I look out the window and see CNN set up on the sidewalk below, but I still have no idea what they are saying. An hour later all the guests are told to meet in the lobby at 9:00 pm. Air Raid style sirens go of at 8:15pm - deafening, so I head to the lobby just in case. At 9:30pm, the hotel people say we have to walk up the hill to the safe zone. As we start walking, the hotel manager is carrying 2 thermos pots of coffee. I ask him what the plan is. He says there is a college that is open to take us in. Great, I was worried that we would be standing around for a couple of hours. 4 blocks later we are in the safe zone, but the college has vapourized. It seems the Tsunami plan only calls for the college to open if there is a real Tsunami, not a warning. Meanwhile, every piece of emergency equipment, police car, fire truck (ccomplete with Jet skis or Zodiacs in tow), ambulance, army truck, local government tuck etc is driving around with lights and sirens going. The Air Raid sirens stop at 10:00. The Hotel people really don't have much more information than us, but they frequently walk up the road to an information office and say we will have to stand on the street until 11:00, then 11:30, then soon. All the restaurants are closed to send everyone home to their families in case of the Tsunami. The army has tents set up and patrols on the street corners. A Red Cross First Aid Tent is set up in a park a block away. At 1:00 am a bar opens on the street near where we are standing. Excellent. Cold beer and a seat. Finally at 2:30am we can return. The big wave didn't come until 1:00, but it wasn't very big, so we can go back to the hotel. However we must be prepared to run very fast if the alarms go off again. 3:00 am sleep after 30 + hours of traveling.
Today after seeing the pictures of the utter devastation that happened in Japan, I realize that my minor inconvenience is a mere speck in the universe compared to what thousands and thousands of people are now going through. What they would do for a dry seat and a cold beer at 1:00 am.......
I am going to reflect on some positive things, like the first daffodil was in bloom during my few hours at home. I an thankful to the Gardeners for that.
Eric want to know how to spell Disneyland.
The black writing was his first attempt, and them Mum gave him the letters when he used the blue pen. I am not sure how he found out about Disneyland, as I was sure I had all those channels blocked on TV. Hmmmmm, maybe I made a mistake and blocked the porn rather than Disney.......
Cheers
I can feel a trip to California in my future Bryan
I arrived at the Hotel yesterday evening about 7:00 and asked about the Tsunami. On the drive in from the airport, the radio was full of an emergency news conference about an evacuation, but I could not understand much, due to my impressive command of the Spanish Language. At the front desk they said, they would come up to our rooms and inform us if an evacuation was necessary. I go to my roon and turn on the TV and find CNN Chile. Hmmm, that looks like my hotel. I look out the window and see CNN set up on the sidewalk below, but I still have no idea what they are saying. An hour later all the guests are told to meet in the lobby at 9:00 pm. Air Raid style sirens go of at 8:15pm - deafening, so I head to the lobby just in case. At 9:30pm, the hotel people say we have to walk up the hill to the safe zone. As we start walking, the hotel manager is carrying 2 thermos pots of coffee. I ask him what the plan is. He says there is a college that is open to take us in. Great, I was worried that we would be standing around for a couple of hours. 4 blocks later we are in the safe zone, but the college has vapourized. It seems the Tsunami plan only calls for the college to open if there is a real Tsunami, not a warning. Meanwhile, every piece of emergency equipment, police car, fire truck (ccomplete with Jet skis or Zodiacs in tow), ambulance, army truck, local government tuck etc is driving around with lights and sirens going. The Air Raid sirens stop at 10:00. The Hotel people really don't have much more information than us, but they frequently walk up the road to an information office and say we will have to stand on the street until 11:00, then 11:30, then soon. All the restaurants are closed to send everyone home to their families in case of the Tsunami. The army has tents set up and patrols on the street corners. A Red Cross First Aid Tent is set up in a park a block away. At 1:00 am a bar opens on the street near where we are standing. Excellent. Cold beer and a seat. Finally at 2:30am we can return. The big wave didn't come until 1:00, but it wasn't very big, so we can go back to the hotel. However we must be prepared to run very fast if the alarms go off again. 3:00 am sleep after 30 + hours of traveling.
Today after seeing the pictures of the utter devastation that happened in Japan, I realize that my minor inconvenience is a mere speck in the universe compared to what thousands and thousands of people are now going through. What they would do for a dry seat and a cold beer at 1:00 am.......
I am going to reflect on some positive things, like the first daffodil was in bloom during my few hours at home. I an thankful to the Gardeners for that.
Eric want to know how to spell Disneyland.
The black writing was his first attempt, and them Mum gave him the letters when he used the blue pen. I am not sure how he found out about Disneyland, as I was sure I had all those channels blocked on TV. Hmmmmm, maybe I made a mistake and blocked the porn rather than Disney.......
Cheers
I can feel a trip to California in my future Bryan
slackwrdave # Saturday, March 19, 2011 1:07:29 PM