Quake, day... 4?

Today was a very bad day for aftershocks. We had several 6.0+ quakes, two of which were very close to Santiago, and we had many more quakes in the 4-5.9 range. Normally, the 6-ers would've been news, but after the other day, it's like we all think "Oh, well, ok, the power is still on and my table is still upright so I guess everything is ok." More of the plaster in the ceiling of our bedroom came down, but nothing else seemed to be damaged. We are more worried about the farm house and whether more of the structure fell. There is still a lot of furniture inside that we were hoping to save but had nowhere to put it. Tomorrow we are going there for the weekend so I guess we will figure something out. It's bad enough to lose the house, but it would be even more of a shame to lose everything in it in aftershocks.

The dust cloud that had settled over Santiago after the earthquake (see a satellite photo of that here) finally cleared today, and it cleared spectacularly. You could see the mountains more clearly than in months--all summer in fact. It was strange looking up at the peaks without their snow-- I've never been here this late in the summer--and thinking about all of the trouble those rocks have caused. Since we moved here, I have stared almost daily at our surrounding landscape in awe. Cliched words like grandeur and majesty come to mind. They are these giant slabs of rock poking into the sky, reading like a history of the world with their striations and slopes. I never felt anything but positive things when I looked at them, but now they scare me. I have never felt so vulnerable to the will of bigger powers, but when I see the mountains I am reminded and I feel like somehow I can relate to ancient people who prayed to them.

Today was also Nick's 31st birthday. Our plans for today were to be on the coast with Schot & Carolyn. True to the weather forecast that inspired us to plan our seaside trip for today, it was a beautiful, clear, warm day here. But Schot & Carolyn are still thousands of miles away, and aren't coming to Chile. And the coast is covered in the lost lives of the earthquake and tsunami victims. Even the town where Nick and I got engaged 2 years ago was washed away. I imagine the rock where we were sitting when he proposed is in the sea now... So instead we had a quiet dinner at Nick's grandma's house with my SIL and her friend. It waxed rowdy for a few minutes because of pisco sours and good wine, but we all sobered up quickly when another 6.0 aftershock hit. Then it was on to planning the materials we have to buy for this weekend and trying to figure out where we will sleep.