Allie loves the ferias!

Wednesday and Saturday are feria days in Santa Cruz, making them my favorite days of the week! A feria is like a wonderfully cheap and not at all pretentious farmers' market. While this might not be true for Valparaiso, or any of the larger Chilean cities, the vendors here in Santa Cruz are incredibly friendly and honest. A few of them know me by name (La Senorita Allie!) and one even has his own nickname for me (Mi Riena, or My Queen! I love it!) Ferias are by far my favorite thing about Chile.

Look what I got today for less than $10 US!



That's right. Avocados, spinach, arugula, carrots, corn, bell peppers, chili peppers, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, chives, squash, and a dozen of the best free range eggs I've ever had. The amazing deal of the day was 4 little red bell peppers for 100 pesos or 20 cents! Wow!

Chile has better and cheaper food than any place I've ever been. The food culture and cuisine on the other hand.... well, they leave something to be desired. But the raw ingredients! Oh, the raw ingredients! And for these prices? Incredible.

I've taken my stay in Chile as an opportunity to cook with ingredients that are pricey in the states and experiment like I've never been able to afford to before. For example, cold peach ginger soup, gazpacho, blackberry bars, fresh tomato sauce, blueberry pie, strawberry corn muffins....

In the US I would never throw a perfect fresh peach into a blender. Here, at about 20 cents per pound, I can afford to do whatever I'd like with them. This has been great because I've been able to figure out which recipes will really be worth mangling my $5/pound fruit when I get back to the US, and which yield a result no more pleasurable than eating the fruit on its own. (Cold peach ginger soup is a keeper, my friends!)

Not pictured in the above photo of my bounty is one ear of corn that was already given to this floppy tongued little monster to mangle till his heart's content:



Take me seriously when I tell you that a full ear of corn is the best and cheapest dog toy ever. There are just so many different layers to enjoy! It takes the dogs literally days to work through one of these. At 100 pesos (20 cents) each, they are quite a deal.

Oh, and Bella likes fruit and veg too! I think that she is the only dog I've ever known that could happily be a vegetarian. You don't even want to know how many peaches and avocados she ate one day when we stupidly left her home alone with easy access to the fruit basket... And then the puppy ate all the pits! And.... messiness ensued. End of story.




Besos,
Allie

Saving Poblacion! Earthquake angst!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our effort to provide every family in the town of Poblacion with a roof over their heads before the winter rains arrive!

We've created a blog to give donors project updates, family stories, and information about donations received and how funds have been spent. On the blog you will find a link to a spreadsheet where you can confirm that your donation has been received. Donations from the US haven't made it into Chile yet due to some difficulties I'm having with Paypal. I should have it worked out by the end of this week.

With donations received so far, we've already purchased enough materials to build 65 shelters! Your donations will help us purchase the materials needed for the remaining 35+ needed. Yayy!! I've been so amazed by how the families and friends of all the foreigners I know in Chile have come together to fund some truly amazing and urgently needed projects. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I just can't thank you all enough.

Last week Matt and I went to Poblacion to do some family interviews to put on the blog. I kind of assumed Matt would do all the talking, since his Spanish is much better than mine and I think he is just better at this type of thing in general. Well, when we showed up at the first family's house, Matt said hello and then kind of walked off with the volunteer construction crew to look at piles of wood and stuff, leaving me with the Senora.

Senora Onafra is a lovely woman. She was all smiles as she showed me around a covered patio behind what was left of their house. There they had made a little bedroom with blankets hanging on clothes lines as walls. The bed was there, neatly made, with a beautiful antique wardrobe sitting beside it. She invited me to sit down and started to tell me how it really wasn't that bad to sleep in the garden. She thought she would be cold, but she wasn't at all! This lady is a serious trooper.

Then, she started telling me about what the earthquake was like for her and for her children living in various other cities. I realized at this point that I was doing the interview, not Matt. Surprisingly, it went okay.

See, here's the proof. It's a crappy picture, but proof none the less.

We moved on to the next house. Actually, it was no longer a house. It was an empty lot. This family's home collapsed completely during the earthquake. By the time we had arrived to interview them, all the rubble had been hauled away. All that was left was a pile of wood they had manged to salvage to use as cooking fuel.

Of course, Matt disappeared again to chat with the builders about material costs and to take pictures of piles of wood. I was left once again to do the interviewing.

There were 10 people living in the Gomez Lorca home, all of whom were miraculously able to escape from their collapsing house without injury. Included in this family are a seven year old girl and a newborn baby, only about two weeks old at the time of the earthquake. They showed me where they are all sleeping now, a tiny shack, neatly outfitted with three beds, rugs, and pictures on the walls. I shyly asked if I could take a picture to show to our donors abroad, feeling my insides drop to my knees. Amazingly, this family was all smiles as well, even as they were telling me how difficult the soon approaching winter would be for them.

As we drove back to Santa Cruz, I felt awful. I felt worse than awful. I couldn't believe that I had a house to return to, to spend the night in, and that many of my neighbors don't. I have indoor plumbing, electricity, and many of my neighbors don't. During the mere three minutes that the earthquake shook much of Chile, so many people were thrust back into extreme poverty which took years for their elders to rise out of. All of that work, gone in three minutes. And whose fault is it? Who is there to blame? No one? That just can't be right. It doesn't feel right that the earth can just shake and knock down your home, leaving you with nothing.

Just as I wrote that, the earth started to make that unsettling light roar that accompanied the earthquake and many of the aftershocks. The house shook a little and I just couldn't help but wonder why the earth was so mad at us. Totally irrational, I know, but homes falling down out of nowhere in the middle of the night seems pretty irrational too. The earth growling at you while you sit in your bed at night? That's just not supposed to happen.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this, can you tell?

I promise that my next post will have nothing to do with earthquakes. (Ok, unless something crazy happens again...) I've been meaning to write about my garden, the amazing ferias, or farmers' markets, in town, and my (drum role please) planned return to my homeland, the good ol' US of A! There's lots of fun not seismically related stuff in my life, honest!

Besos,
Allie

Life must go on.

Yes, life must go on.

I cannot let my life become completely enveloped by earthquake madness. I need to continue to do normal things, like sleeping, tidying up the house, and cooking fantastic healthy food that makes me feel good.

To that end, this morning I made a batch of homemade veggie stock and decided that I would use some of it to make a lovely squash soup for lunch, and the rest to restock my freezer.

(Note: Matt and I are very good at keeping a well stocked freezer full of fruit, homemade stock, homemade soups, and sauces. We lost tons of food after the earthquake related power cut that lasted 5 days.)

I didn't want to use a recipe for this soup, because I already knew exactly what flavors I had in mind, roasted squash and caramelized onions. I had this fantastic idea. I would create this amazing recipe and blog about it. So normal! So good!

I tidied up the kitchen, and it felt nice. Then I started cutting the squash. Ah, what a pleasure it was to get back to normal life! To start cooking again! To put all things earthquake behind me!

Then, we had another earthquake. A 7.2 earthquake.

I ran outside with the dogs. The puppy sat under the outside table with the most terrified puppy expression I have ever seen. Bella did her best to get in my lap. (I was standing. It was awkward.)

After the earthquake, I just sat on the ground for awhile with Bella in my lap, feeling like this would never end. After ten minutes or so of moping, I just decided to go on with my day as planned. What else can you do?

I went back inside. I noticed that the power had gone out, which means that we also had no water (electric water pump). I didn't let this get me down. I continued preparing the squash for my soon to be beautiful and healthy lunch.

Then, we had another earthquake. A 6.9 this time.

I ran outside, blah, blah, blah. Dogs flipped out, blah, blah, blah. Seriously, I was starting to get hungry now. This whole "getting back to normal life" thing wasn't working as planned and I was getting annoyed.

At this point, most people would probably just decide to have a sandwich for lunch. Or really anything that doesn't involve you standing over a stove during the impending threat of an earthquake. Even most people who would insist on forging ahead with the soup might scale it back a bit, thinking that maybe the onions don't really need to be caramelized, or maybe the squash doesn't have to be roasted first...

For better or worse, I am not most people. I was determined to continue making my soup EXACTLY as planned. This involved me standing literally right over the stove for the entire process, as in the event of another earthquake I would have had to quickly turn off the gas to the oven and run outside.

Well, that only happened once during the cooking process, but it was only a 6.0, so nothing to freak out about. Right?

In the end, the soup was totally worth it. It made me feel good, healthy, and normal... even though we had another aftershock while I was eating it (Only a 5.4! I didn't even get up from the table! Normalcy, you will be mine!!)

And without further ado, I present to you Earthquake Soup. Make it. Eat it. Continue to live your life throughout the little rumbles. Feel healthy. Feel good.


Earthquake Soup (Roasted Squash and Caramelized Onion Soup)

4 cups peeled and chopped squash (In Chile, that means zapallo. To those of you that have more than one kind of squash to choose from, it could mean butternut, acorn, pumpkin... anything orange really)
olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced into thin half circles
butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups of veggie stock
1 cup whole milk
grated parmesan cheese for serving (some creamy goat cheese or blue cheese would be better, but I didn't have any)


1. Place the squash in a large baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with saly and pepper. Stir to coat evenly. Roast the squash in a very hot oven until soft, turning occasionally so that it browns evenly. (I turned my oven up to literally the hottest that it goes. I wanted to expedite this because of, you know... the earthquake thing. It worked great!)
2. While the squash is a'roasting, saute the onions in your soup pot over low heat in a little bit of butter, salt and pepper, until they begin to turn brown and start to caramelize (about 15 minutes?). Add the garlic and balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
3. Add the roasted squash to the onion mixture and stir in 2 cups of veggie stock. Simmer for a few minutes and remove from heat.
4. Blend soup with milk in a blender in two batches (or use an immersion blender). Reheat blended soup until it reaches a low simmer. Taste for seasonings. Add additional salt and pepper as needed.


Note: Aaaaand I only had to run outside three times during the writing of the blog post! For a 4.9, 5.0, and 5.0, respectfully.


Besos,
Allie

How to Donate

First of all, I'd like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has offered to help us rebuild the town of Poblacion, financially and through volunteer work. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We are building a blog so that you as donors and concerned citizens can track our progress, see that your donations have been received and see exactly what we have purchased with received funds. We will also be posting photos of the town, family stories/interviews, and (hopefully) video interviews and/or tours of destroyed homes and the residents' current living situations. The blog doesn't have much information on it now, but we hope that by Sunday we will have some more stuff up. Check it out!!

Many people have asked how they can get money to us from the United States. The best way is to transfer funds into my Bank of America account, which I will then transfer to Chile. I've set up a paypal account by which I can also accept donations. Please note that paypal charges 2.9% + 30 cents for each credit card transaction. There is also the option to make a bank transfer via paypal, which I believe is a free transaction.

Please click on the button below to donate via paypal or e-mail me at aazersky AT gmail.com for my account information so that you can make a bank transfer.

If you'd rather donate to a registered non profit, please consider Un Techo Para Chile, an organization that is also building emergency homes for earthquake victims.

Thank you again!

Much love,
Allie

Please help us rebuild Chile! The first step is a roof over every person's head!

I still can't put into words how impressed I've been with the Chilean people.

Please humor me while I try again.

On the one week anniversary of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that destroyed entire city blocks, crippled transportation networks, and washed away entire seaside towns, a 24 hour domestically televised telethon style fund raising event was held. The goal of "Chile Ayuda Chile" (Chile Helps Chile) was to raise 15 billion pesos, or $30 million US to build 30,000 emergency homes, an aim which I found impossibly high for a country of 16 million people, 70-80% of which were just affected one week earlier by the 7th largest earthquake ever recorded.

I was wrong. I was so wrong that my eyes welled up with tears of pride when I heard the total. Somehow, through personal and corporate donations, 3o,212,775,555 pesos were gathered. That's over US$58 million. That's almost twice the original goal. That's simply unbelievable.

Unfortunately, this amount won't be enough. Unfortunately, many will be sleeping without roofs over their heads tonight, and for many nights to come. This is especially true in my community.

Chile lost an estimated 500 thousand homes to the earthquake and resulting tsunami, a staggering blow to a country of 16 million people. Even though Chile Ayuda Chile nearly doubled their goal, this only amounts to 60,000 emergency homes. That leaves 440 thousand to go.

Winter rains could arrive as early as one month from now. This situation has reached a critical level of urgency.

Poblacion, a small rural town near Santa Cruz was especially affected.



Many of the homes destroyed in this town were owned or lived in by low income agricultural workers.



Aid has arrived slowest to rural areas. These are also the last people to have their basic infrastructure, like water and electricity, restored.



A group of residents has taken it upon themselves to start providing the most critically affected victims in this town with materials to construct emergency shelters. We are funding this effort through private donations from our friends and family and we are starting NOW.

These homes, or "media aquas," are single room structure of 18 square meters (about 160 square feet). They are little more than a shed with windows, but they will give families shelter, and a place to start from in order to rebuild their lives. The materials for each home cost 300,000 Chilean pesos or US$580. They will be built mainly by the people who will be living in them, although construction assistance will be provided to those who need it.

Poblacion's local government has estimated that 100 homes are needed. As the volunteer disaster relief information organizer, I think the total will end up being higher. I'll post updates on the statistics as the information gets... erhh, organized. (Tomorrow's project! And what a project it is!) Even though there was no information on how many houses were in the town before the earthquake, it is clear that a large percentage of homes in the community were destroyed.

To my friends and family: Please help me rebuild the community in which I live. Contributions of any amount are helpful and can make a direct and immediate impact on a family that is living in the open air or under a tent with the shock and fear associated with becoming homeless overnight. Many of these families have small children and/or elderly members.

As one of the coordinators of this program told me, the media aquas are just the first step. She said that priority number one was assuring that every little old lady, every family, had a roof to sleep under. Next, she said, we are going to rebuild Poblacion to be more beautiful than before. You should have seen her eyes glow with pride when she said that.

Many town residents see this as an opportunity. To see them speak, to see them work voluntarily around the clock, while they have their own homes to repair, their own jobs, lives, and families to attend to, it's an incredible thing.

Please contact me if you are able to contribute.

For those of you who aren't my family or friends (or if you are uncomfortable with the idea of sending me your contribution), I don't expect you to just randomly send me money. I ask that you please consider donating to Un Techo Para Chile (A Roof for Chile), which works in a similar area.

We are trying to set up a google group or something similar so that donors can see a record that their contributions have been received and can also see updates as houses are built and progress in the town is made.

Please watch this National Geographic video that details the earthquake aftermath in the region of Santa Cruz and Poblacion.




Take care,
Allie

The Earthquake.... what a reason to start blogging again!

I kind of let this blog go.... which is silly, because it's been very therapeutic for me during my (gasp!) 2 years of living away from my family, friends and culture in Chile.

Well, "therapeutic" is something in desperate need of right now, so I'm going to give this blogging thing another go.

Matt and I had a fight last Friday night on how to best parent the dogs. I set up the extra bedroom for myself, got Bella settled into her bed next to mine, popped in some ear plugs to block out the Friday night street noise, and went to sleep.

I was woken by my bed shaking, and for some reason I thought in was Bella trying to climb in with me. I yelled at her incoherently and waved my arms around for a few seconds, and the shaking just got stronger. I took out my (amazing) earplugs and realized that we were right in the middle of an earthquake. This was a REAL earthquake, not like those wimpy little rumbles I freaked out over before.

Everyone has been told that the safest place to be in an earthquake is in a door way, right? So, I ran to the door, trying to put on my sweatpants so that if my body was pulled from the rubble, at least I'd be decent. I reached for the door handle, and the earthquake became so strong that I couldn't believe that the house- any house - was still standing. I was literally bouncing off the wall. I knew that standing in the door way would lead to major injury, as the door would be swinging back and forth with incredible force. (Who came up with this door way thing??? Why didn't I think of the threat of swinging doors before???) I wanted to go outside, but I knew that I wouldn't make it. So, I just stayed there, trying futilely to stay upright while bouncing off the wall and thinking that it had lasted so long. It had to stop. Any second, it had to stop.

And it didn't stop.

Ever.

And then it stopped. The house felt like a boat, gently bobbing in the water.

Every car alarm in the universe was going off and it seemed like there were thousands of dogs barking right outside our door. People were screaming in the streets, and I was really scared. Where was Matt?? Why wasn't he yelling for me???

I ran to our room and opened the door, every piece of furniture in that room had fallen over, and Matt was in bed, sending text messages. (It's best to do these things right away, before cell service goes down.) The puppy was under a few overturned wardrobes, but he was in his cage and completely fine. If Bella had been sleeping in her normal spot, she would have been under this pile of furniture. (Therefore, our fight about Bella saved her. Yay, Bella!!)



We didn't know what to do. We didn't know what had happened. Neither of us had been in a major earthquake before, so we had no idea how strong it actually was, and we were fine.... so, how bad could it have been? We had no idea. We just didn't know anything.

At 8:00am we ventured out to see what had happened. There was a lot of damage in our neighborhood. We started talking to our neighbors and realized for the first time what a bid deal this was, and how truly lucky we were.



As we got closer to the plaza, the scene only became worse.



Nearly a whole block right off the plaza was destroyed.



Almost all of the buildings on the plaza, including the church, have suffered severe damage or have collapsed.



The earthquake measured 8.8 on the Richter scale and lasted 3 minutes. This was the 7th strongest earthquake ever recorded. It was 1,000 times stronger than the recent earthquake in Haiti. At least 723 people have died, and hundreds more are still considered missing. Santa Cruz is located just about on the first ring around the center dot. I can't imagine what it would have been like in the many harder hit towns and cities, or those that experienced a tsunami in addition to the quake.



In Santa Cruz, we were without reliable cell phone service until Monday, without water until Tuesday, and without electricity until Wednesday. Many areas of the country still do not have these services restored, while many had them back on Saturday morning.

That said, the Chilean people have handled this catastrophe with incredible poise, composure, and optimism. When we first ventured out at 8:00am, the morning after the quake, our neighbors were already picking up the pieces of their homes. No one was crying, no one panicked. Everyone we spoke to was quietly grateful. They were grateful for what didn't happen to them. Thankful that they still had their families. The local fire station immediately started distributing water and taking donations of food and other supplies which were available to those in need. Everyone was so calm.

I know that this isn't what has been shown on international news. Looting and washed away beach towns make much better stories. I just want the world to know that looting, desperation, and violence, have not been the reality of this tragedy for many Chileans. Most Chileans are helping their compatriots, and they are doing so with grace in the face of incredible hardship.

I've gained so much respect for this country over the past few days. I can't even put it into words.

I know that everyone is all donated out from the disaster in Haiti, but I ask that you please consider contributing to the efforts to rebuild Chile as well. Please contact me if you are interested. I promise that I will put any donations directly into the hands of someone who needs it.

Check this out for an excellent collection of photographs from all over the country.

That's all for now.

Much love,
Allie