Earthquake

It's Friday around 11:00 a.m. Chilean time and I am half a day away from going on vacation. One of Pete's best friends from grade school, Vince, is coming to visit and we have a week of exploring planned. We will spend the first night in Santiago enjoying the city and night life and then we are going to head down to Valparaiso where we can enjoy the beach for a few days. After that we are going to head up to wine country to enjoy a few vineyards and then end the week with a trek up to the mountains. It's going to be TERRIFIC!

So last night I felt my very first earthquake (at least I think so). I was in bed around 1:30 a.m. (not to be confused with the middle of the afternoon) and I was sleeping fairly light as Pete was attending a work dinner for the UNIACC Alumni and wasn't home yet. I was listening to the birds sing outside and then all of the sudden I heard a strange noise followed by the entire flat shaking for about three seconds (One one thousand, Two one thousand, Three one thousand)... yes about three seconds. I lay there trying to wrap my mind around what just happened and then I realized that it was totally silent. I couldn't hear a bird peep or the wind blow. A few seconds later the birds began to sing again and the world was back to normal. Maybe it was because it was in the middle of the night and I was alone but all I can say is that it was completely surreal.