Angol-home, sweet home.

After much confusion, various earthquakes, missed flights, canceled buses, collapsed bridges, and many goodbyes I am finally in Angol and I love it. It is a lovely town surrounded by rolling hills, volcanoes, and lush forest. They also boast the best apples and tomatoes in the world.
Angol was pretty devastated by the earthquake. My host family here suffered minimal damage, but all their best wines were ruined along with many of their dishes. I love that they told me the worst thing to happen was their wine collection was destroyed. They immediately made me feel at home. Jorge, my host father is an anesthesiologist, just like Juan my host father in Santiago, apparently the program thinks I will need to be put under at any given moment. The hospital here was completely destroyed so he is currently working in a field hospital and has to sleep in his car when he does twenty four hour rotations. My host mother is a midwife and works at my school (I too am confused as to why a school would need a midwife, but my response is, hey, it's Chile). She is so nice and has made me feel like one of her own. They have four children, the older two, Jorge and Cristian live in Osorno a few hours away. The younger two, Makarena and Catalina live here. Makarena is 18 and awesome. She has a daughter named Amanda who is 1. They are super fun and Makarena has shown me around the town and given me tons of advice about what to do. She has also given me permission to be rude to the men that talk to me on the street, she actually ordered me to. She's radical. Catalina is 10 and super sweet. We went on a hike yesterday and then went rock hunting. She is a doll and I am so excited to have a sidekick like her. I also attended a benefit for Chile in the park and it was the most bizarre benefit I have ever seen. There were clowns, a band, an exercise class that only did one exercise, jeeps driving through the river, and what appeared to be a monster truck rally, but I can't be sure and no one else was either. It was pretty hilarious.
When I arrived they immediately showed me my school, the town, and then we had an incredible breakfast. This house is a refuge for this town. There are constantly people dropping by to say hello, have once (pronounced ohn say, it is like tea in England, but at 6 in the evening), share stories, and have impromptu asados (barbeques). I feel right at home here and can understand most of what is happening. I am now officially Hannah Montana and am certain I will be for the remainder of my time here.
Last night Chile suffered a blackout throughout 90% of the country. Our house really came alive then, neighbors came over terrified, and we lit candles all around, pretended we were camping and laughed a lot. We also had the most spectacular view of the stars I have ever seen. It was like whole galaxies were coming alive before my eyes.
Here a few photos of the devastation here.