Tocopilla, Antofagasta, Chile
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Today nature set out to prove to me that
Tocopilla is beautiful and exciting. During the night, there was a tremor, so slight I did not feel it, but I heard the house move. I am still waiting to feel my first mini earthquake. In this place I will not wait long. This morning, the mountains were invisible. The clouds seemed to be hanging just above the one-floor houses. And there was water in the air. The whole town was excited, and talked about how it was cold and raining. Except it was not cold - 12 degrees maybe, if so little. Nor was it raining. At least, the water wasn't coming down, it was just hanging in the air. Rather as if a rarefied cloud were sitting on the town. In the afternoon, classes were canceled because the courtyards and balconies of the schools were wet. As I walked to catch the
colectivo, for the first time I found
Tocopilla beautiful. I could see the puffiness of the clouds resting around the base of the naked hill, and in the distance, the nervous ruffles of the sea, spewing white foam. In the afternoon, I attended a meeting in a hotel near the shore. The clouds had lifted a little, and were as a uniform lid just above the mountain. On the horizon, appeared one thin red line of light between water and cloudy sky. Then a red sharply-defined sun floated down through that strip. 3 minutes and it was gone.
