The most important lesson of living in Costa Rica.....I learned on day one

Yesterday I arrived in Costa Rica! And it was then that I learned the most important lesson of all - we should expect unfamiliar movements from the earth on a fairly regular basis. Both simple and strange at the same time.

It was a particularly beautiful day here and we were on break from retreat sessions. Many of us were lying out in the sun beneath the flowering tress enjoying the breeze. Suddenly, I felt a strange movement. I brushed it off to being hot, tired, and probably dizzy from my 5 hours of aggregate sleep the two previous nights. Well, that wasn't the case. When someone said "do you feel that?" I realized I wasn't alone. It continued on for what seemed like 3 minutes, but in reality was only about 20 seconds. It was a slow undulating movement that emanated from deep below the ground on which we were all lying. One of the Peace Corps directors came running out asking if we all felt that. The movement? The result of a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit down in the South Pacific region of Costa Rica, and the aftermath is what we felt (i.e tremors or small magnitude 'quakings of the earth', not to be confused with 'earthquakes.') Important insertion here: we were told that although it was 5.9 'earthquake' and that seems high on the ol' richter scale, that is not necessarily the case. So don't worry. 5.9 magnitude earthquakes can often never be felt.

When another small tremor happened again today while in Program Training Sessions, it later led us all to an intense Q & A regarding earthquakes versus tremors. And this is where I learned the most important lesson of all.

Costa Rica lies on what is called the Ring of Fire - a seismically active region that makes a ring throughout countries from the western part of North America down through South America to the Eastern part of Asia and the South Pacific. This I was aware of. However, I did not fully know the difference between earthquakes and tremors, the latter one being quite frequent around here. With tremors happening two out of the three days I have been here thus far, I would say that statement is pretty dead on. But they assure us not to worry. The term "earthquake" is used for movement of the earth's plates beyond a certain magnitude. But often times many of those cannot even be felt. A tremor was described to us as something much smaller. We were told a very clever way to think of a tremor - "it is simply the earth stretching.....it is good for it to stretch so it lets out some of its energy, thus preventing larger quakes and harsh movements from happening." We then went on to learn all the protocol should a larger quake happen.

So there you have it - the most important lesson of all, I learned on day one and two of 27 months in this beautiful country! Though I haven't seen much (airport to the retreat center only), I have a feeling I am going to really love it here. And even though the concept of experiencing tremors and earthquakes is new to me, and to be honest, a little trippy, next time there is a tremor I will remind myself that the earth is just stretching. When I stretch I feel much more grounded, collected, and in control of things. Let's just hope the earth does too.

For your viewing pleasure, three random pictures:

On the bus with one third of the group to the retreat center upon arrival in CR:


This is the field in which I experienced my first tremor (i.e the retreat center):


And finally, Costa Ricans know La Pura Vida (and love to eat GOOD food. Often.):