Chile 2014. What's going on

So basically on tuesday I was asked by my supervisor if I wanted to go to Chile to do some work in the field for the USGS.  I of course accepted the offer and will now be flying to La Paz (Bolivia) on the 9th of April.  

Once I have arrived in La Paz I will be catching a bus which will take me over the Andes and into Chile to the city of Arica.  Arica is one of the many cities along the coast that I will be visiting and investigating.  

I'm basically being sent to do a field survery, where I will be recording the Mercalli measurement for different areas of the coast, the rate of liquefaction, soil failure, and lateral spreading.

I've also been asked to take as many pictures as possible of the destruction caused by the earthquake and its aftershocks, as well as the damage from the tsunami (even though its effects we not as bad as predicted).

My experiences from this trip will be used in an article that I will be writing for Earth Magazine.  I will be exploring the effects of the earthquake on Chilean society more than infrastructure and buildings.

I will be travelling by bus from Arica-Iquique-Alto Hospicio-Antofagasta.  All of these cities are in the north of Chile.  If youre wondering why I'm flying into La Paz rather than to Santiago it is because the bus ride from Santiago to Iquique would have taken 24 hours!  So overall worked out easier and cheaper to fly into Bolivia.  

Once I reach Antofagasta I'm going to catch a flight to La Paz where I will spend a day chewing coca leaves in the highest capital on the planet before catching my flight home to San Francisco.

I don't speak any Spanish whatsoever.  The only language I speak is German, which I don't really think will come in useful in Chile, so fingers crossed I will have mastered the Spanish language by next Wednesday!  Wish me luck!  And look out for a pasty English guy surfing on some tsunami waves on the news.