I have the best guardian angel in the world.

Hello friends!

I am writing to you from the bus terminal in Puerto Montt, Chile. As many of you have probably heard there was a pretty devastating earthquake with its epicenter in Concepcion. Two girls and myself came down south for the weekend to do a little traveling, so we are away from Santiago, where there was also some damage done. The quake happened at about 4 in the morning so I was sound asleep and never even felt a thing. We were staying in a little hospedaje (hostel) in Huentemo, which is in the Parque Nacional de Chiloe, and it is right on the Pacific Coast. Until we heard about the Tsunami warning we had been hiking along the coast all morning, completely unaware of what could have happened! It was not until we hitched a ride back to the main entrance of the national park to do a little more trail hiking that we ran into some friendly people from California who told us about the earthquake (which was an 8.5!) and how now there was a tsunami warning for the entire Pacific coast! How lucky we were! Unfortunately we had just missed the next bus to go back to Castro, which is safer and in the center of the island, and the next one did not come for another hour and 45 minutes. My guardian angel was getting all sorts of prayers, and we decided that we would just start walking and hopefully the bus would come and pick us up eventually. Within five minutes a jeep with 3 seats in the back pulled up and after we found out they were headed back to Castro they let us in and brought us safely back! Unfortunately the main highway that comes down south was partially destroyed near Concepcion, so we have to wait until Wednesday night to return back to Santiago. I also talked to Mama Maria and it sounds like she is doing just fine as well, praise God!!

Until next time, ciao ciao!

Besos para todos!