Tsunami Warning Signs - Chile | Small Travel Story | The Day My Pants 'Got Heavy'
Hooray you mighty readers! Funny tsunami warning signs and how a siren scared me to death in Chile.
Remember my last post about the tides and how nature tricked me real bad when I've had that deserved break from my part-time job? Don't remember? Go check it out then, you monster! Just kidding, love you!
Puerto Cisnes - Chile | Photography | Funny Little Story About Tides
I also would like to remember you that I'll write a long travel story, full of funny situations, about this small town in Chile, but for that you'll have to stay tuned.
This time though, I'd like to bring a glimpse of my crazy stay there. Just like on the 'tides' post, I want to share this small little photography story of how I almost pooped on my pants because of a troll siren.
If you know Chile or if you follow the news, you may have noticed that they have some serious problems with earthquakes sometimes. I don't think it's that frequent, but many chileans I met along the way talked about the terrible sensation it is to go through an earthquake and how it feels, like the soil is wobbling below your feet just like a sea wave. I'm not a scared guy, so I took their advises on what to do in such situations and carried on with my life, thinking that I should not encounter the referred phenomenon. At least I hoped.
By the time I got to Puerto Cisnes I had already forgotten about earthquakes, until I found this little signs all over the coast. Enough to light up my attention again.
Tsunami Warning Sign
Tsunami Warning Sign in Puerto Cisnes, Chile. Click image to enlarge!
- Ok, this thing is serious! - I though.
I've asked some locals about the signs and their answear was positive.
- Bueno... We've never had a tsunami here, but everytime there's an earthquake somewhere, there's risk. That's why we have the signs. - The old man said.
- Ok, good. Nothing to worry about. - I though.
I've stayed there for 5 or 6 days, nothing happened, enough time for me to forget again the idea of being swallowed by a gigantic wave, dragging me into the Pacific (do I really want to live in a sailboat?).
It wasn't until I've crossed by boat to Chiloé, an island 10 hours away from Puerto Cisnes. Being an island, I was of course surrouded by water, meaning... no place to run away. But ok.
One beautiful day I was walking slowly, enjoying all the small details of a town called Achao, day was gray as usual (Chiloé rains 300 days a year). All perfect... when I heard.
- *Wooooooooooo-ooooooo, Wooooooooooo-ooooooo* - A long air raid siren sound.
- What the heck is that? Sounds like an old air raid siren... - I though.
I started moving quickily, trying to find where that sound was coming from.
- Hold on a second! It's the freakin tsunami siren!!!!!! - I though.
Hill! Find a hill you bastard! Run to the mountains, learn how to swim, do something. I looked around, the locals were still there, doing nothing. Something is wrong, are they just accepting the fact that a gigantic wave is going to cary us all to Neptune?
I approached a local woman selling some sea algaes.
- Ola señora, Why is the tsunami siren on? - I asked, trying to hide the fact that my pants were feeling heavy.
- It's midday, they use it to mark midday and midnight. - She said.
- Ahhhhhhhhh I understand... thank you.. - I said.
Dude, I'll tell you! Why in hell would they use a tsunami siren to tell the hours? I don't know... all I know is that this is how a simple siren almost caused me a bad case of heavy pants.
Tsunami Warning Siren
The bastard siren tha scared me. Click image to enlarge!
Have you ever had the case of 'heavy pants'? What was the reason? Comment down below, I'd love to hear from you.
I hope you've enjoyed this small story. If you liked it, consider giving your upvote for a hot coffee.
~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broken backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
I'm Arthur. I blog about Adventure Stories, Brazil, Travel, Camping & Life Experiences.
Follow me to stay tuned for more craziness and tips.
You may also want to read:
Mighty Steem Explorer Game! Discover the Location & Win the SBD
[Blog #10] Cycling Saturday | I Guess I Don't Like Cyclists | Beautiful Day
Puerto Cisnes - Chile | Photography | Funny Little Story About Tides
The Old Calafate tale | Patagonia | Argentina
Photo Series #64: Finding Balance | What is balance in life?
A proud member of:
Ha you're so funny. That's crazy though - why would they do that lol. Too bad if they have a tsunami at midday.
I had two earthquake experiences. Once, I was sitting in my bus, and all of a sudden it SHOOK. We looked outside. Was it a cow bumping us? Nope. It was a tremor.
The other time we were in Bali and that was kinda scary. we were in a really low lying island and the whole gazebo shoook... sounded like a train going past. I was a bit scared then, I tell you!
Heyho Kylie, thanks for passing by!
You've been in the middle of a earthquake? Whhaaaaat? That's crazy! I just can't imagine how it feels to have the whole earth shaking below us.. and while being in an island, scaaaary!
We may have a looot of problems in Brazil, but fortunately natural disasters are not in the list uffff
Congratulations! Your high quality-travel content caught our attention and has earned you a partial upvote. We love your hard work and hope to encourage you to continue to publish strong travel-related content. Thank you for using #travelfeed
Super awesome! Thank you for the motivation.
Lol that will also scare the hell out of me. Why would they use a tsunami siren as an alarm clock!
hahahahaha right? It's like living in constant adrenaline... Is it midday or it's Neptune releasing his power?
Hahaha I don't know what's the most absurd thing I've read from your travel stories, this custom or the one hand-only waving custom to stop the bus!
I've had some heavy pants moments, but all of them were underwater while diving, which I don't know if it's better or worse 🙈 Like this one time we were all swept away by an insanely fast current the locals call "the shotgun" because it sweeps you straight and powerfully like a shot gun and to get out of it you need to kick your legs and arms like crazy to fight against this current, which seemed like the most impossible thing there ever was. And to think that we enter this current on purpose just to feel like superman for a minute or so before you kick for your life. Man, my heart is racing just rewinding that moment...😅 I need to rest now...
AHHAHAH oh gosh, Flo!
I guess I'll invite you to the steemit masochist club, together we'll make sure to put ourselves into the most bizarre situations ever hahahaha
And what happens if the person suddenly have a cramp or something? Caput?
Hahaha I'm so in! 😆🤣 What can I say: We simply cannot escape our fate that presents us with such ridiculous situations.
No, not caput because this particular shutgun current will shoot you out straight (more or less in the same depth) just very far away from the group if you don't get out on time, but still one can manage to surface. As long as you keep the cool and dont do anything stupid, the worst that can happen is you lose your group. It is only dangerous if the current goes down.
Ahhhh then it sounds like fun!
Just like some of my friends that wisely decided to go down a river using truck tubes. After they had almost died they discovered that the same river is used on international kayak competitions hahahahaha
Whoa that's scary! I can't even imagine how they survived. I've only went tubing on "lazy" rivers
They survived by ignorance HAHAHAH, when you don't know you can possibly die, you just don't die. But they've got some nice green bruises, do you know those? After the purple ones you turn into green hhihihihiih
Ohh, yes, unfortunately I do. I am sure they're grateful for the bruises instead of some other disaster.
Congratulations @mrprofessor! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
To support your work, I also upvoted your post!
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPAwesome!