Buckeye Mike

I am back home. Its been a long couple days In the next few days I will sit down and summarize my time in Santiago, lots I did not include because I did not want the home folks to worry. To my colleagues in Chile, stay safe. I miss you and will be as much help stateside as I can. To everyone else, I will write more in a day or two. Adios and vaya con Dios

My good friend Julie recently lamented about Murphy's Law on her Facebook page. How Murphy was supposedly an optimistist. But really, I am losing my optimism about this place I am staying in (don't know whether to call it hotel or motel) When I arrived in Chile, my suite was at the Marriott. As the pictures showed, I had a great view and stayed very comfortably there until I was told to switch to this place. And Murphy's Law kicked in. The first 3 nghts I was in 3 different rooms as they tried to make the internet work on my computer (Just doesnt work in your room is what I was told) The first two rooms were only slightly bigger than a mop closet, with a tiny shower I could barely fit in. But the third, oh sweet victory, as this room had the internet, and more. A shower I could turn around in. A king size bed with plenty of room around it. And for 3 glorious days I enjoyed that room. Until last night, when all of the sudden I heard gurgling coming from the bathroom. Doing ...

Today was much cooler here in Santiago. On most days I will wear a pullover most days for only the first hour, but today I had to put it back on at 4 because of the chill in the air. The rainy season (what we call winter) starts in a few weeks, today may beginning the transition. That means we have to really step up the pace on the job, get everything ready for the moisture. I got a lot accomplished today. We are starting to run very smoothly. Supplies and equipment are arriving on schedule, our stock of items we use a lot of is growing by the minte seemingly, and the communication on the site is great. There are times since I have been with Belfor that I have sat back in awe of what we as a company can do. This is one of those times. As some of you may know I am leaving here in the next few days headed back to the states for personal reasons. On one hand I am sad to leave as I like the city and Chile in general, on the other hand I cant wait to see those who I am missing at home:) Sho...

The city of Santiago, for those who don't know, is built in a bowl. Mountains surround this huge sity of 7 million. That means that all the exhaust and industrial fumes go directly above the ccity and just sit. the smog is so think you can see it, and it becomes hareder to breathe here every day. Today was a good day in our man vs. natural disaster world. Much of the last seven days have been spent running out of supplies that I cannot find in the city. Today though we hit a gold mine. In one city block downtown we found 90% of what we will need on this project. In stock. Ready for use. We loaded the truck full 3 times today. And just in time. A walk through wih the client today found them to be beeming with delight at the progress we made. At the evening meeting I looked at a colleague and said you know, if you didn't know any better, you'd think we know what we are doing. The truth is we do know. This is what we do. From the project manager to the laborers, everyone knows...

Today had to be the most interesting day in Chile so far. There was a morning worship service before work, with one of our project managers who is also a minister delivering an Easter Sermon. And although only 5 of us were there, it was still a moving service. I have been to 37 Easter Sundays in my life, mostly in a suit and tie with a thousand people there and Easter dinner\Passover Satre awaiting. After listening to Hensell Morris speak, with all he has been through, about how lucky he is to have Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, I know there is no place on this Earth I would have rather been for Easter Sunday Service than that tent in Lampo, Santiago Chile. After that it was back to work. I drove to the mall where Sodimac and Lider are, and I didn't get lost. YAY for me! I then took two colleagues who had been traveling for almost 20 hours to the hotel to rest. Then back to the site. And thats when the aftershocks started. A shake of my office trailer reminded me that we were...

Two days ago I changed hotels. The first night the internet only worked for a little while. By the time it came up I was worn down after a long day on the job. Yesterday was just as long but I was determined to blog. I got back to the hotel and the internet was down. This hotel is not the Marriott. The original room I was in was 12X12 with a tiny little bathroom. Its supposed to be an American type hotel, not sure where they got the specs lol. But tonite I got a new room where the internet works (yes it matters what room you are in). This room is nicer, a suite with 2 rooms. And a balcony that overlooks the small square that bustles with people 24 hours a day. As I sit overlooking the streets, it kind of reminds me of downtown Boston. People coming and going, buses running at a fever pace, and me sitting up here watching life happen in Santiago Chile The past 2 days have been a mix of good and bad. The bad - its very difficult to order supplies in a country where there are no comapnie...