Panic at the Grocery Store

Iquique, Chile

June 13th, 2005 (Journal from a school trip when I was 17)

They let us go to the mall to go shopping today. We had from 6pm to 9pm to walk around. First thing I did was buy these traditional sweets they have in Northern Chile. They are these cookie things layered with honey, mango, or other fruits. I wanted to buy a whole pack but the things are as dense as bricks. I didn’t want to carry them with me all night.

I spent the night walking around with Marisol, a girl from California. This mall is huge and filled with little shops that look more like art galleries than stores. It’s an open air mall, since we are in the Atacama desert they don’t have to worry about rain I guess. The mall has three or four levels. It’s hard to tell because there are staircase in weird places and some levels don’t go all the was around. It was hard to figure out where I had already been or not. Soon the dry air and walking around made me super thirsty so we went to what I believe was the 3rd floor to get a juice. From there we could also look out over the railing at the rest of the mall below us. Before we got to the railing I was distracted by some shiny shiny glasswork in one of the stores.

Just as we were about to go in the store the ground started shaking a little. It took me a second to realize why the mall was shaking. Then I remembered that Chile has earthquakes. At first it was just a little shaking. A tremor. I thought it would pass. But it kept getting stronger. People started screaming. I didn’t know what to do. I remember seeing on tv that you are supposed to hide in doorways, but all the doorways were made of glass. Marisol pulled me over to a support beam where we crouched down and held on. The shaking kept getting stronger. I would not have been able to stand up even I wanted to. Then all the lights went out. Glass was breaking everywhere. All I could picture in my head was becoming one of those people you see on tv covered in blood and buried in rubble. This all took place in less than a minute. The shaking soon ebbed and some lights went back on. The ground continued to rumble for a few minutes after the worst of it. Marisol, being from California, had done earthquake drills and told me we should remain in place until the trembling stopped. My midwest butt only knew tornado stance so I listened obediently. Around us people were panicking, screaming, and running. A woman close to us had thrown herself into such a panic she had to be carried by others. All the while we stayed by that beam.

Finally, the ground stilled and we got up to find an exit, which was not easy. The mall has a terribly confusing layout. I seemed to forget how to speak Spanish and tried asking for directions in English. This was not helpful. I was treated to blank stare before the man I asked simply walked away.

The walk out of the mall was surreal. Chile makes a lot of red wine, which they sell in the mall. These bottles broke creating rivers of red flowing around toppled mannequins and broken glass while be lit by blinking and broken lights. Somehow our group all found each other outside of the mall. We waited for two hours for our bus to come pick us up. Unfortunately, it couldn’t get through the post-quake traffic. Instead, we pilled into the back of a strangers pickup truck. Driving back into the city we could see the power was out in many buildings. This included our hotel. We couldn’t go up to our rooms because they didn’t know if the building was stable. Now we are gathered around the dark dinning room trying to call our host families on the overwhelmed cell phone networks.

June 14th, 2005

We went to a grocery store in the city today. Running water is not working so we went to get bottled water to drink. I hated every second of it. Parts of the ceiling were falling as we were shopping. The store was crowded beyond belief. People were all nice, but all scared and I could feel it. It was like everyone’s fear was humming around me and I felt like couldn’t breathe. I hope I never have to be in a grocery store panic ever again.

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March 19, 2020

Minneapolis, MN

They might put us in a ‘shelter in place’ order soon. We went to the grocery store to get some potatoes and eggs. No falling ceiling, but it still sucked. Hopefully this will truly be the last time I have to deal with panic at a grocery store.