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Apart from one small natural irrrigation incident on the 7th February, it has not rained since November 2006 in Santiago. It seems quite incredible, but the above incident resulted in @higher than average” rainfall!

It is becoming quite insufferable now. It is cooling down considerably but the smog has only got worse. As our weather indicator in the right-hand sidebar probably indicates…it is as low as 6C at night and reaches only 24C on a good day. But we still wait for that wet, warm wind to bring moisture!

In desperation, i went hiking last tuesday and got my first taste of moisture for a while, walking in cloud at 3000m. It was great! Cold, but great to feel like i wasn’t breathing from a hoover bag! For the first time since Christmas, i felt the chill of -10C, albeit only because of windchill!

But then something wierd happened. With a few strong gusts, the air turned warm again. Really warm. From 2000m below, the wind brought that taste of Santiago smog again. Mmmm.

News travels slowly sometimes! Congratulations to Paul and Pauline Beautyman, my cousins, on the birth of Aidan William Beautyman on Sunday 15th April!

Their daughter, Skye is still in some shock, I hear. Still, better to have a little brother than a little sister i would say!

Everyone else is delighted at the safe delivery of Aidan without a cesarean section!

Please send us a photo Paul/Pauline!

[Rachel says..] Last night at 6am I felt my first earthquake in Chile. Despite having been here for well over a year, I’ve always managed to be in the North when there are earthquakes in Santiago and vice-versa. Or else I just don’t feel them. However, last nights was a 5.3 and not too far away, so it was hard to miss. Quite exciting.

Sadly, we woke up to hear of a larger earthquake (6.2) in the south the day before, which brought home the potential seriousness of living in an earthquake zone. Large parts of some hills in the south fell into the sea and inlets, causing massive waves and 3 people are reported to have died, with 10 missing.

However, don’t worry Mum, Santiago is (mostly) built to withstand earthquakes, and we’re a long way from the sea here. We’re far more likely to be run over by a mad bus driver…..

Well we’ve been in the wars recently. In addition to my finger splint following a vicious game of basketball with friends, our friend Naomi completed the Santiago half marathon but spent the other half of her intended marathon in hospital with a muscle tear…. and then two nights ago, Rachel returned from work with severe stomach pains.

We trotted off to the hospital again, to discover that she has a urinary tract infection. So she’s “working from home” in her bed this week. So much for visiting a spa resort last week to swim in the crystal clear mineral laden waters. We blame the two old grannies with whom we shared a pool!

Last week, during Rachel’s relief time, we enjoyed a night at a spa resort south of Santiago. These are some of the highlights of Chile! Warm volcanic thermal waters. Many are now well developed, with jacuzzis, water beds and several pools, indoor and out. They also offer accommodation on site, with optional volcanic mudbaths, massage and aromatherapy.

Its strange, but their high-season is not, as you might expect, in winter. It is in summer.

Where we went, it hits 36C outside every day in summer. The waters rarely rise above 42C, so perhaps it is the cooling effect of the waters that Chileans seek? Either way, this is great news from gringos from Europe! Come during the Chilean winter and you get low prices, practically empty spa resorts and hot water when the air is cold outside!

On the 14th March we enjoyed an evening with our friends David and Anne, close to the Prince of Wales country club, Las Condes, Santiago. David produced a wonderful salmon with lemon and butter sauce on the BBQ and we were entertained by their kids Nicky and Mandy.

After the meal, Mandy alerted us to a light in the sky that she could not explain.

An Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), we joked…. but when we stepped into the garden to view it, through nearby trees, we were very surprised to see not just a single light, but several, rising into the sky.

Tell-tale signs were, of course, bright visible light from the underside of a disk-shaped metallic object. We could also distinguish several lights from its belly, which we assumed were produced by several motors which were strangely quiet, sounding like your ears do after a long mobile phone call- a high frequency tone, barely detectable from a distance.

Most strikingly, the object moved, both rapidly and randomly in the sky. With gasps of “Que raro!” or “increible”, we watched as it made several turns in the sky, rising and falling against the dark shades of the mountains around.

Fumbling around in the dark, i found my camera and started snapping photos which i now post below.

A spanish version of this account can be found below.

El 14 de Marzo, disfrutamos mucho un asado con nuestros quieridos amigos David y Anne a su casa cerca de Club Principe de Gales, Las Condes, Santiago. David cocinó una muy buena salmon, cocido con mantequilla y limon por el asadero. Y sus niños, Nicky y Mandy nos divertieron como siempre!

Después de comer, la Mandy nos advertío a un luz subiendo por arriba de la cuidad hacia al oriente (la precordillera) de Santiago.

Un objeto volador no identificado bromeamos, pero, cuando pasabamos por el jardin para verlo a través de los arboles, lo nos sorpresamos de ver no solo un luz blanco y brillante, pero unos luces subiendo al cielo, con una altura menos de 1000m.

El objeto, como se pudiera anticiparse, tuvo algunos luces brillantes radiando de abajo de un objecto parecido de un disco metallico que, pensamos, debía ser los motores. Pero fueron motores especiales que no produjieron sonido dentro del rango de oir. Lo sentimos como el sonido de olas de alta frequencia.

Más sorprendente, se pasaba por el cielo con movimientos muy rapidos, bruscos y por direcciónes al azar. Dijimos “que raro!” y “que increible” como lo veíamos subir y bajar en los cielos.

Encontré mi camera y sacamos algunos fotos del objecto volador no identificado (OVNI, OSI, UFO, ONI cualquiera que los llaman ustedes) que podrá encontrar arriba en una ficha/presentación. Bienvenido a www.thegilmours.co.uk.