Yay! We Have Hot Water.

With each day, things here in Santiago have slowly been returning to whatever they call normal. More shops and restaurants have opened back up, the grocery store doesn’t regulate traffic-in and traffic-out anymore (although their shelves are very understocked), the aftershock tremors have subsided – at least as far as we can tell. Still waiting on the gas to be turned back on.

So, we went out-and-about today to the Bella Vista district to have some lunch. We were looking for this Vietnamese restaurant (we really miss Vietnamese food) but they don’t open until 8:00 pm because they spend the daylight hours repairing damage caused by the earthquake. So instead, we ate lunch a couple blocks away then headed for the Mapocho Station Cultural Center. Formerly Santiago’s primary train station, it now serves as an art and culture center for performances, exhibits, and events.

When we got back to our apartment we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had hot water again and the washer/dryer services had been turned back on. Woohoo! Cold showers and room temperature baths are not fun.

Tomorrow is Chile’s Day of Mourning in honor of those who lost their lives over the past week due to earthquake-related catastrophes here in Chile. Something interesting we noticed was that, each week day, the city of Santiago would fire off a very large, very loud canon at exactly noon. That canon hasn’t been fired in over a week. Surely everyone here can do without a loud “BANG” every day when their buildings have been rattling for a week.