more quake stuff

Yesterday it was back to work as usual. It felt very strange just going back to work while all terrible things are happening in the areas around us. Jake was hoping that the quake had somehow opened up the last trench and he wouldn’t have to dig anymore, but no such luck. The site was perfectly untouched. We spent most of the day digging out more of the features that fill this trench. One was particularly deep and once I had dug so far down that my arms wouldn’t reach anymore, Jake had to finish it up. His arms are slightly longer than mine. There are a few photos to enjoy attached.





Jake finally heard from his friends in Talca. Everyone we know there is safe and no one’s homes were damaged. Talca got hit pretty hard, his friend Jessica said that the downtown area is completely gone. Talca is always our first stop and last when we come here. We don’t know if we will be able to stop and stay on our way home if the town is torn up. A little less than 3 months isn’t a lot of time to fix all that was torn up, especially here in Chile. Thank goodness they are all ok.

We still haven’t heard from our friends in Tome yet. The power is still out in that area and should be back on in a few days, but until then we can only pray that they are safe. In Temuco, the town that is about an hour and half away, the hospital was split open. People started looting which caused the Chilean government to declare martial law in some areas, which scared Jake more than the earthquake did. There is a curfew in place to cut down on the looting and there have been a lot of arrest so far, Jake is just concerned that when this is all said and done that the balance of power goes back to the way it was before. It has only been declared in a few areas so far. There is also concern that the earthquakes aren’t over yet. The two plates that separated haven’t corrected themselves yet. If they don’t within about 2 weeks, there is expected to be another massive earthquake. We’re hoping on the “correcting themselves” theory.

Also, come to find out in Chile the drinking water and the sewage water pipes run side by side, and in the event of certain events, like earthquakes, sometimes the pipes can break and mix together. So, even though we have running water, it could be quit yucky. We went to the store and bought a few bottles just to be safe. There has been no bread the last few days so I am having to make it.

We are still feeling aftershocks, which makes for not too restful nights. We talked to Jake’s parents last night and turns out they were on the local news in Palisade. The news crew interviewed them about Jake and what he is doing down here. They Tivo’d the interview and are going to try and post it online so we can watch it. Also, Jake’s Dad is going to have to have surgery again on his arm sometime in the next week or so.

Happy Birthday to Trent yesterday! Hope he liked his present! We’ll keep everyone updated when we can!

Mandy & Jake

Earthquake

Well, we had an interesting night/morning. At about 3:40am Jake and I were shaken, literally, awake. The entire cabin was shaking, we were being tossed around like rag dolls for about 2 minutes. It seemed liked forever then the shaking lessened and finally stopped. We had no power and were a little on edge. Jake took it like a champ, this was his 6th earthquake. I on the other hand did not handle it very well. I think me being scared made Jake more upset than the actual earthquake. It also didn’t help that I was having a bad dream when I was jerked awake at 3:40 in the morning! I was too frightened to move, let alone make it to a door way. I do not like earthquakes! Who does though? The epicenter was about 400 miles North West of us. It registered at 8.8 on the Richter scale and what we felt was about a 7.

It was the 7th strongest earthquake in not just Chilean history, but history in general. After it hit we walked outside and I saw some flashes of light over in the area of the volcano. I was terrified that the volcano had erupted or that it would after the quake. She seems quiet for now and I want it to stay that way. If that wasn’t bad enough we were laying in bed trying to get back to sleep when another smaller (30 seconds or so) one hit about 5:00 am. We didn’t get much sleep and we were still feeling after shock when we got up this morning. We got dressed and headed to the site to pay Jake’s workers and make sure everyone was ok.

We had no power, no phone service, and no internet access. We didn’t know how bad it had hit other parts of the county until Jake was finally able to get a hold of his parents. It was scary not knowing what was going on and not be able to call anyone and let you guys know we were ok. We didn’t even know if the quake had made the news. Little did we know everyone knew about it. There was almost no damage to Pucon, a few broken windows downtown but otherwise untouched. Santiago and farther north is another question. Lots of damage and over 140 people died. A family Jake baptized lives in Tome, on the cost one town over from Concepcion. The epicenter was just off the cost of Concepcion. We visited there on our trip last year. We haven’t been able to get in touch with them and we pray that they are ok.

Even now as I am writing this email we are feeling aftershocks. We were able to make a call to Jake’s parents and to Jennifer to just let everyone know we were safe and sound. We received a call from the Branch President, who was stuck in Santiago, calling to make sure we were ok.

When we finally got power back at about 4:00pm we drove into town to make a few calls and let everyone know we were ok. When we got back to our cabin the Elders from the ward were waiting on us. They were checking to make sure we were ok. Since we feed them a few weeks ago there was a transfer. Instead of having two American missionaries, we have the greenie from Idaho and a guy from Argentina. After talking for a bit about how scared we all were, able to laugh a bit about it by that point I was really hungry. I was planning on making pizza for dinner and was really hungry so we offered to feed them too. They left for about an hour to check on other members before coming back here. The greenie from Idaho had been shook up all day; he had never been though an earthquake either. He was so sick to his stomach I sent him home with a Ziploc back full of Tums.

We are very grateful to be alive and safe. All day the power had been off, and all day there were cars lined up at the 3 gas stations in town and I mean LINED UP! Most people here don’t have generators so they were all just freaking out and “Had” to get gas. We were able to get to the store, all the bread and bottled water, no shock there, were gone. We were able to grab a few candles before that shelf was emptied out too. I had a killer headache and took some benedryl sinus which means I am going to be OUT in a few minutes. I pray that the earthquakes are done and the aftershocks are over. Thank you for all the prays and the phone tree that was taken care of! I don’t down the power the Shafers and Sauers have in the ways of the phone tree!

We wish we could have called and talked to everyone, but internet access in limited and Jake was only able to put some more money on his pay as you go phone. I will send out emails more regularly for the next few days just keep everyone updated that we are still alive.

I can’t say enough how much I DID NOT enjoy that earthquake. I have had the heebie-jeebies all day because of it. The quake shouldn’t disrupt any of the work Jake is doing here; we haven’t been to the site yet. We will see how well it did on Monday. For now, be safe everyone and we miss and love you all.

Mandy and Jake

Valentine's Day

Well, this past week we had some rainy days so we had some days off, which were nice for catching up on sleep and watching Bones. Man, I forgot how much I love that show! We have already made it through to the 3rd season. We are almost done with season 3, and will be sorely upset because we don’t have season 4. L This week on the site we found 2 more pipe steams, and arrow heads. There are about 40 features that have popped up in this trench, twice as many as were in the other 2 trenches put together. There are so many things in this trench that it is hard for Jake to figure out what exactly the stains in the soil are and who they belong to. So he has to dig out soil samples from all of them to test later. He is just a boy digging in the dirt.



One of the guys that works for Jake offered to have him mom make some corn humitas, similar to a tamale. They were freaking awesome! We bought 6, shared 2 of them with the guys, and then we enjoyed the other 4. Jake likes to sprinkle his with a little bit of sugar, oh my goodness! You take fresh corn kernels, chili peppers, salt and pepper, grind it up and wrap it in some corn husks and then boil it for an hour. We will definitely have some more of them before we leave and might even be something that I can make myself!





We were in Chile last year for Valentine’s Day and we went out for sushi, so we figured we would keep up the tradition here in Pucon. There is a little sushi joint near the church building in town so we gave it a shot. Jake got some sashimi Salmon. The salmon itself looked ok, but it had been soaked in some kind of oil and there was a slash of sesame oil on the plate, needless to say he didn’t finish it and that was the first time he has EVER let sashimi go to waste. We got a California roll, an Ebi Cheese roll, and some other roll that had shrimp in the middle and breaded chicken on the outside of the roll. The rolls were the best they could be in Pucon, Chile. They weren’t the worst we have had but they also weren’t the best we have ever had. We are looking forward to a trip to Ken’s, Fulins, and Kyoto when we get home in the spring. We will make a trip to the great sushi place when we get back to Santiago before we come home.





It only took me going to the other side of the world to learn how to make certain things from scratch. This past week I made some cinnamon rolls and put the dough in the fridge so we could have something sweet for breakfast on Valentine’s Day. Behold, the first cinnamon rolls! They were very enjoyable and will not be the last ones I make! Martha Stewart eat your heart out!



We hope everything is going well at home! Hopefully the weather has improved so that Rachel can get ready to fly back to China on the 20th. Happy Birthday to Spencer this week! Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year!

Mandy & Jake

a good meal

This past week we were feed the missionaries that are here in the Pucon ward. Both of the Elders are Americans, one has been out about a month and he is very “green”. We made what Jake’s family calls Spring Time Diner, which is ground beef, onions, potatoes, corn, and cream of mushroom soup. We also made a tossed salad with real ranch dressing! Jake likes boiled eggs on his tossed salad, and Jake told the Elders that the eggs were for the salad if they wanted. I guess they misheard Jake, because they piled the eggs on top of the spring time diner. I guess they are used to having eggs on top of a lot of meals here. The meal was very good, but desert was amazing! I made peach cobbler and it was delicious. The green missionary asked his training companion who has been out for about a year and a half, “Have you ever had peach cobbler here before?” His companion quickly explained that he hadn’t and that this was probably the only time he was going to have it.

They elders had their Pday on Monday and they were having a joint Pday with some elders and sisters from other areas. Jake invited them to come to the site to have a look around. They showed up about 45 minutes before we were done. Jake gave them a tour of the site. One of the sisters was attending a university in Las Vegas before she left for her mission and she wants to be an archeologist so she was really excited to see everything.

Sunday night our neighbors had a very loud and very long party. They did not stop partying until about 7:00am, so we were very tired on Monday. It was raining this morning so we didn’t work this morning so we had a chance to catch up on some much missed sleep. There is a chance for rain again tomorrow, but we will have to see.
Nothing much else to update. Hope everyone is doing well at home!

Mandy & Jake

Excess use

Sorry, I haven’t sent out an email in a while, but there hasn’t been much to email about. We get up every day, we go to the site, we dig, we screen, we find a bunch of ceramic pieces and we go home! We did have a surprise when we got back to the cabin on Monday afternoon. After a long day of playing in the dirt, we can get quit dirty and we each look forward to a nice shower before dinner. Unfortunately that day the water wasn’t on. Jake called Sonia, the woman who owns the cabin. She had someone out at the cabin that day to fix the faucet in the shower, so Jake just thought they had forgot to the water back on. He got off the phone and went outside to turn the water back on. After about 5 minutes of turning the switch every way under the sun, there was still no water coming out of the sink in the kitchen. So Jake called Sonia back and she said she would call the water company for us and call us back soon.

We had worked a full day on Monday, and it was about 5:00 when we got back to the cabin. We were both very hungry, but couldn’t cook dinner because we couldn’t wash our hands to cut up any vegetables or have any water to cook the mashed potatoes with. So, we waited for Sonia to call. She called about 6:00; the water company had shut off the water due to “excess use”. How nice, instead of calling the occupants, or billing them for the extra water, they simply shut it off! We were very confused; there was no way that we were using enough water to warrant it to be shut off. Sonia said she was on her way to us and that she would get the water turned back on. She showed up and showed us the bill; the water company just seems to be trying to charge them way to much! For the months of Oct, Nov, and most of Dec were each about $10 a month, which is about normal (I wish it was like that at home!). Then for the end of December and the beginning of January, the weeks we weren’t even here but back in the states, the charge was about $30. Sonia said she would go down and take care of it. After she left we were finally able to shower and each, at about 7:00. We then had to rush into town to drop off our laundry before it closed. Over all it was an interesting evening.

The dig site is coming along very well. We have found a lot of stains that Jake is still trying to figure out what they are. We have also found an arrow head made out of white quartz, which was really neat. Julio has taken to catching those ugly flies and pulling off the wings then leaving them in the buckets of dirt I screen though. Not sure if I should laugh or be disgusted, I haven’t been bit since that first one and I haven’t gotten a sun burn, so the death toll has been increased in the last few weeks.

So, as it turns out the first winter storm to actually hit Tennessee in a long time, happens when we aren’t there. We have enjoyed various photos of the fun from both sides of the family. We have missed out on 6 to 7 inches of snow, building snowmen, sledding, hot cocoa, warm fires etc. Well, all I have to say to that is that it is watermelon season here and we have been enjoying a juicy watermelon since Saturday! So there!

It rained very hard last night and it has seeped into today, so we are not at the site but in the cabin. Hope all is well at home.

Mandy & Jake

Busy in Pucon

This past week marked our first full work week in the entire project! The trench we are working on now has produced more artifacts than the last two trenches put together. Every day we have been pulling out ceramic after ceramic. In the area we are working in now there are these huge horse flies all over the place. They fly right into your face and buzz really loudly, which is annoying, but then one of them bite me and it was on! My goal before we leave is to kill as many of those flies as I can! I have devised a system in which I knock them to the ground and then stomp them with my boots. One of the guys working for us, Julio, is able to catch them. His fly to death ratio is higher than mine, but I hope to catch up. The flies don’t really bother the workers very much but they were just going after Jake and me. Jake’s advisor from Vandy, Tom, has been in Chile for the past month working on various projects and he came out to the site today and he said that the flies were attracted to our sun screen. He said he just stopped using it because the flies wouldn’t leave him alone when he had it on. Do I not wear sunscreen and get a terrible sun burn, or do I wear it and then get eaten alive by these huge flies? We will just have to see what the future holds but I do not take melanoma lightly.

We had a great visit with Tom. There was a triathlon in Pucon today and all the roads in downtown and leading into downtown were closed off for the race so we weren’t able to get to Church this morning and we had to walk into town to meet Tom. I have never seen Pucon so packed! People were everywhere! Tom and Jake talked about the ceramics that we had been pulling out and looked at a few of the artifacts. He treated us to lunch at our favorite restaurant in town; I enjoyed my Pumpkin ravioli and Jake his three-peppered steak. We then drove out to the site after the roads were reopened. Tom was pleased with the work Jake had done and gave him some advice and then Tom headed back to Temuco.

Not much else to report other than we will never leave home without a supply of ground black pepper. We brought some McCormick black pepper with us this trip and it has already made a world of difference in the food we have been able to cook. The spaghetti, the springtime dinner, the fajitas have all been so much better with it. I also made some vegetable stir fry for dinner one night this past week and it was GOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!! We bought some Kikkoman Soy Sauce and I made some fried rice. I then cooked some carrots, zucchini, onions, green and red peppers, and cashews in the soy sauce with some garlic and peach jam. It was so good we are going to have it for dinner again tonight.

We hope everyone at home is doing well.

Mandy and Jake

Day one

We didn't have access to the internet while we were at home over Christmas break, so I wasn't able to update the blog until now. We had a great Christmas and enjoyed our stay at home, it wasn't long enough.

Being back in the cabin feels like we never left, which is making it strange to be here. Even though we went home and slept in our bed, sat on our couch, cooked in our kitchen; being back feels like we were never there. One major plus to this trip is that we brought our Playstation 2 with us. We brought a couple video games, but we mainly brought it to hook up to the TV and watch TV show DVDs and movies without having to watch them on one of our computers. This time we brought more DVDs then we will probably be able to watch so we won’t run out of any this trip. Granted we won’t have as much time on our hands as last trip, but still better safe than sorry. Also, it seems that Jake and I are not responsible for the unnatural amount of rain this summer, it continued to rain even when we left to come home for Christmas. Hopefully that rain will let us dig more this trip. It was raining Sunday morning but cleared up enough for us to dig on the site yesterday.

If the first day on the dig site is any indication of how this trip will go, then fantastic! Even though we could see our breath when we left the cabin yesterday morning, it warmed up quickly by lunch time. During the first trip Jake was focusing on digging within the fence that surrounds the Santa Silvia site that Gordon worked on in the last 80’s early 90’s. This trip Jake is focusing on the area outside the fence that has never been excavated before. We started digging in two 1 meter by 1 meter squares and there were so many artifacts coming out! We pulled out lithics, pieces of obsidian, roof tiles, and a ton of ceramics! Nothing was a complete pot or plate or anything like that, but we pulled out between 65 and 80 pieces yesterday alone! We found more in the first day than we did in the first month last trip! Since everything is broken and there are rocks that were used to create tools and weapons in this location, Jake thinks that maybe we have found were the population would dump their trash. We were down to 30 cm by the time we left yesterday and there is no way that erosion would be able to move that much, that deep, and that far away from the original site. We will see what today will bring!
Hope all is well at home!

Mandy & Jake