A Broad In Costa Rica

Letter From A Couple At The Epicenter

This letter was in a local gringo newspaper last week. What a vacation!

Dear Editor,

My wife and I had just checked in at the La Paz Peace Lodge after our flight to Costa Rica and were taking a nap when the Jan. 8 quake hit. I write in response to some letters and articles, and to give our thanks and perspective.

Our first thanks go to the architects and builders of the Peace Lodge. Had it not been so solidly and well constructed, I likely would not be writing this letter. The lodge is perched along a hillside with many walkways, balconies, and parts of rooms suspended. Basically, being at the epicenter, we were fortunate there were no collapses or more damage and injuries.

Next, although there was much confusion and uncertainty on the first day, we witnessed Peace Lodge staff doing their best to provide information, despite the fact it came in from conflicting and varied sources. Keep in mind many lived in nearby towns and were more directly affected by this quake than any of the tourists at La Paz.

Trying to sleep through the aftershocks in our rental car the first night, we were surprised to see a small group arrive about 11pm. In the morning we learned it was the lodge owner, Lee Banks, and staff who had hiked cross-country in the dark. We were very impressed with the way Mr. Banks and staff took charge that morning. They compiled a list of people and worked with helicopters to get the injured, sick, children, and elderly out first.

Mr. Banks also arranged guides to escort able-bodied groups on hikes out of the area. We went with a group of 50 or so in the early afternoon. Our thanks also go out to the ambulances, as well as those locals with ATVs and trucks who gave rides along the way. And yes, the emergency response may not have been "timely" or "adequate" by some standards, but by the next morning, there were hundreds of Red Cross, fire and police officials and volunteers working very hard and with a strong presence.

Lastly, we would like to thank all the great people (locals and tourists alike) whom we met and spent time with during this ordeal. Sadly, there were definitely some bad apples - there were reports of people stealing wine and souvenirs from the La Paz gift shop, others who remained self-centered and complained about everything, and the helicopter company that was charging to take people out. But for the most part, there was a great sense of camaraderie and support - building shelters and fires, sharing cell phones, information, pillows, blankets, food and drink.

In hindsight, the earthquake was just a scary inconvenience at the beginning of what turned out to be a wonderful vacation for us.

Our hearts go out to all those really affected and who lost homes and loved ones.

Fred and Annie Hornbeck
Los Angeles, California
Reprinted with permission.

Earthquake Relief

These are the two places I know of where you can donate money from outside Costa Rica: Western Union and Tico Bingo online. The money ends up at the Cruz Roja [cruise ROW-ha].

Cruz Roja is literally Cross Red, or Red Cross. They are the relief program here. Donating to the Red Cross in the states will not, as far as I can tell, trickle down to Costa Rica. The Cruz Roja is critical here, they rescue people all the time from flooding and landslides. I don't think they have enough money to be corrupt... but who knows.

Western Union
You can make donations for earthquake victims from outside Costa Rica via Western Union. You are donating to the Cruz Roja (literally Red Cross, er, Cross Red). Tell Western Union it's for "Cruz Roja, EARTHQUAKERELIEF CR". It is a free transaction. You need an office where there are people, not just a machine.

Tico Bingo
You can donate to the Cruz Roja's Tico Bingo online using visa or mastercard. Tico Bingo is how the Cruz Roja raises money. Often you'll see the Red Cross guys and gals in the street in front of your local Cruz Roja office selling bingo cards for un rojo [oon ROW-hoe, one red which is a 1000 colon bill, $2]. That's the gringo price... but I'm happy to pay it!

Updates: Quake, Hotel, EFT

The tremors under my office chair, all the way over here on the other side of the valley from the epicenter, have finally subsided. We had one - a long one - at 3am Monday morning, but it'd been several days since the one before that. Thank goodness! Those tremors are unnerving. I'm sure the survivors near Poás are grateful the aftershocks are mostly gone. They have enough to deal with. I imagine freedom from the anxiety over an immediate repeat performance is welcome.

Recovery and reconstruction are underway. The area will be affected for years to come. Muddy waters have killed the life in the Sarapiqui River. No fish, no fowl... The electrical plant there is in disrepair. (Most of Costa Rica's electricity is water-generated.) Strawberry fields have been decimated, leaving workers with no income. Cows and other livestock have been killed and injured. The death toll is at 23. The homeless at over 2,000.

You can make donations for earthquake victims from outside Costa Rica via Western Union. You are donating to the Cruz Roja (literally Red Cross, er, Cross Red). Tell Western Union it's for "Cruz Roja, EARTHQUAKERELIEF CR". It is a free transaction. Thank you, A.M. Costa Rica!

Two articles in a weekly newspaper here, the Tico Times*, moved me to tears this morning. Hope, spirituality, gratitude. Pardon the platitude but an earthquake ain't nothing compared to these forces.

The first article is about Ana Cambronero, 41, who lost her husband and three teenage children when the soda her family owned collapsed down the mountainside 19 days ago. Today she is staying with relatives and helping unemployed victims find jobs. She believes God spared her so she could help others recover. Where does God find people like this?

"The day I married Francisco, a new chapter of my life began... and yesterday at the funeral (Jan 15), that chapter ended. I now have to start a new chapter, in which I can express God's love by helping others."

The other is a letter from a gringo couple who was staying at the La Paz Peace Lodge. I've asked for permission to reprint the letter and I will if they grant that. (Who wouldn't want to be famous for 15 minutes on A Broad In Costa Rica?)

We've been busy looking for a new place to live, hopefully someplace we can operate as a small b&b. Or lease an up and running b&b, small hotel. The response has been so good we are encouraged - the right place is out there. Somewhere. If our future unfolds like our past, God only knows where we'll end up. So far, we've considered almost 15 properties. And so far, there's been that One Little Glitch in the way of actually packing up and signing a lease. But, hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

The other new development is my discovery of EFT. I've done a few workshops here with a woman named Margot Diskin. EFT = Emotional Freedom Technique and go ahead, laugh. The name is completely over-the-top new-agey and ridiculous. It does, however, accurately describe exactly what EFT is and does. I am wild for it and am on the path to becoming a whatever it's called when you help people do this for themselves. Facilitator? See, I'm new at it.

Before we moved to Costa Rica, I was investigating acupuncture colleges** in the U.S. The plan was for me to go when we got back from here after a year. God laughs when we make plans, no question. Since there is no acupuncture school here*** and I don't really want to do massage (although I may go to school for that, too, since the training would definitely help), this is the next best thing. Actually, in some ways, I believe it might be better.

If you have any doubt that emotional energy can clog you up, watch What The Bleep? If you've never seen What The Bleep?, it is not to be missed. If I were God, it would be required viewing.

This morning, we are headed back to migración to get the stamps for the boys' passports so they can leave the country**** and to get our drivers' licenses renewed. They expired a year ago. Yeah, procrastination are us. We have a big day ahead of us, hours in line waiting for estampillas [stamps]. Oooh, be still my heart! Pray for short lines. Thank you.

*This newspaper charges 600 colones (about $1) for a local newsprint copy, it wants $4 for the pdf online version. That's outrageous if you ask me. So far, no one has. It's why I have a blog.

**I met all those people in the photo when we visited the school in late 2005. Very nice to see them graduated!!!

***There is a woman who does have a school but she does not respond to emails. She did once and even added me to her contact list on one of those Facebook-wanna-be sites. If I could find her and her class, I'd sign up. There is also a man in Zapote who teaches a series of classes and I took several during our first year here. But it's all in Spanish and I missed understanding at least half of it... I will start his class again when it starts up next.

****This should make a good post... Bureaucracy in Costa Rica is always a good time.

HEY, CNN. What about us? We had an EARTHQUAKE!!

If CNN or Fox drags one more hapless frost-bitten shell-shocked body up onto their dais to ask the same questions (what was it like? isn't it something that everyone was so calm? didn't that crew do a great job?) to get the same answers (everybody was calm, no one was hurt, the water was really really cold), I'll have to scream.

I'm thrilled their plane crash went so well and no one was hurt - honest. But the desperation of the MSM to be the One You Watch... it's sickening. You know they wish someone at least almost got hurt. Or that one of the hapless would break down on camera. That would be newsworthy.

I guess Congress agreeing to give Obama the other $350Billion isn't news. Nobody really thought they'd hold out, did they? The plane crash is way more exciting news, just maybe not for five hours.

My earthquake seems so meaningless now. We did have a tremendous aftershock today, one of the slider ones that lasted for probably five long seconds. I should call one of those iReporter hotlines.

 Volcán Poás did erupt at 10:30a Tuesday spewing gas, water and sediment. Apparently, the volcano is "acting within its normal parameters." Huh.

Bad news, good news: the bad news is that one of Costa Rica's inactive fallas (faults) has become active. The good news is that, while there are thousands of faults in Costa Rica, only 150 are active. Phew! I was worried there for a minute.

As of now, 128,135 persons in 61 communities have been affected. There are 23 confirmed dead, 8-11 missing (the 5-6 British tourists visiting La Paz at the time of the quake and listed as missing have turned up), water has been restored and all isolated people are believed to have been rescued.

Of critical concern are the 2,500 people now in shelters. Most of them have no homes to return to. Nor do they have diapers, tampons, toothpaste, shampoo, scissors, tissues, hairbrushes... Clothes, they have. Food, they have. Personal items are lacking.

There are excellent photos here. Good information about aftershocks and earthquake preparation there.

This site lists recent activity in chronological order, most recent first. Dates are day/month and they do the nautical time thing. (Are they too lazy to write am or pm?) The last number is the Richter scale. Looks like things are still rockin' over there... The newly active fault is a few km further away from us which must explain why we are not feeling all the shocks still going on:

15/01/2009 - 16:22 - 3.8
15/01/2009 - 16:18 - 4.1
15/01/2009 - 16:18 - 4.1
15/01/2009 - 15:11 - 2.9
15/01/2009 - 14:14 - 3.4
15/01/2009 - 14:12 - 3.0
15/01/2009 - 14:11 - 3.3
15/01/2009 - 14:09 - 2.7
15/01/2009 - 14:05 - 4.0
15/01/2009 - 10:33 - 3.4
14/01/2009 - 13:50 - 3.2
13/01/2009 - 21:47 - 2.5
13/01/2009 - 16:25 - 2.2
13/01/2009 - 15:36 - 3.7
13/01/2009 - 15:33 - 3.5
13/01/2009 - 04:54 - 2.4
13/01/2009 - 01:09 - 4.3 I think this one was right under my bed. It woke me up. I couldn't get back to sleep till dawn...
12/01/2009 - 21:37 - 4.0
12/01/2009 - 20:23 - 4.1
12/01/2009 - 19:25 - 3.5
12/01/2009 - 18:45 - 2.8
08/01/2009 - 13:21 - 6.2 The biggie.
07/01/2009 - 10:00 - 4.0

I still say hurricanes are easier to deal with because of all that warning. Sebastian Watt, a doctoral student in Oxford’s Department of Earth Sciences, conducted an analysis of our quake. He notes: "... seismic waves, radiating from the earthquake rupture, may trigger an eruption by stirring or shaking the molten rock beneath volcanoes. The disturbances that result from this lead to eruption but, because of the time it takes for pressure to build up inside a volcano and for magma to move towards the surface, an eruption may not occur until some months after the earthquake."

This passes for a "warning" in earthquakelandia. It will have to do. Since I've only felt one shock today, I'm pretty relaxed about earthquakes now. When Wilma flooded Key West, we were all so shocked, numb... like the airplane crash dudes. Key West hadn't seen water like that for at least 85 years. But a few weeks into it, we were all like, "Hey, statistically we're golden. Not again in our lifetime."

So, if this is truly the worst earthquake in 120 years in the central valley, statistically we're golden. Clean up the wreckage and move on as best we can. I'm going with that. I do not care to hear about probabilities and the reality of statistics, thank you.

UPDATE NOT 2 SECONDS AFTER POSTING THIS: Scratch all that being relaxed nonsense. 11pm, just felt 3 sharp jolts, about 3 seconds. I'm scared. Ok, just felt another one: hard. Maybe I'll sleep under the bed tonight.

PHOTO: This photo of the US Airways jet that crashed into the Hudson River Thursday, taken by Janis Krums, brought so much traffic to TwitPic that the site's servers got overloaded.

Quake Update

Earthquakes don't get names like hurricanes do. I suppose one reason is because there aren't enough of them, thank goodness. They just get their location and year: we just had the Costa Rica 2009 one. At least we're all hoping that was it. If we get another, we'll have to call this the Costa Rica January 2009 one. I'll keep you posted.

This was a 6.1 which is a pretty big earthquake. If the epicenter had been in San José, buildings would have fallen. For an idea, here's a video of two earthquakes [FIXED!]:

• The Loma Prieta earthquake, San Francisco
  17 October 1989, 5:04pm, 15 seconds, 6.9
  63 people dead - 3,757 injured - 8,000-12,000 homeless
  Caused by a slip along the San Andreas Fault

• Jiji earthquake, Chichi, Nantou, Taiwan
  21 September 1999, 1:47pm, 7.3
  2,416 deaths (including missing) - 11,443 wounded
  44,338 houses destroyed - 41,336 houses severely damaged
  Occurred along the Chelongpu Fault in the western part of the island of Taiwan

Ours didn't feel that big when I was sitting down the mountain at lunch with my brew-has [BRU-jas]. Usually the quakes are so brief, they are over before you realize what is happening. This one started and we all just sat there. Then it just kept going and going... by the time we finally got up to go outside, it was over. By that time, we were officially scared.

I called the boys right away. A window broke and stuff fell off the shelves, but they were fine. Freaked out, but fine. It feels worse up on the mountain: you're basically sitting on a pile of rocks. When one moves, they all move...

The area around the epicenter is devastated. There are plenty more than four people dead. At least one town pretty much disappeared, roads are gone, dropped down a mountainside. I wanted to do an update yesterday but the information was so wildly confused and contradictory, I couldn't make sense of it. This morning, A.M. Costa Rica has a pretty comprehensive update. CNN has a news article, too. Where there is conflicting information, I'd go with A.M. Costa Rica simply because they are here speaking local Spanish.

I'm still feeling shakes and jolts. It's 8:30am here, I've been typing for about an hour and felt several this morning. Different from yesterday's. Yesterday they were short and sharp, like a hammer hitting a rock. Today they are shakes, like someone holding the rock and giving it a push-pull-push. Deep in the earth and far far away. All equally unnerving.

Someone reported that the types of tremors we are having - harmonic tremors - are eruption precursors. I  googled that but vulcanologists and seismologists use big multi-syllable words like endocrinologists do. They might even be the same words. The topic is completely incomprehensible to me. Knowing eruption precursors exist and that someone suggested we are having them is terrifying.

Odd. After this experience, I assumed that the words terror and terremoto were related. Not even close.

I've learned a lot about volcanos and earthquakes and Poás, in particular, the past couple of days. Poás is active and prone to eruptions. It's a stratovolcano like Mount Vesuvius and Mount St. Helens... lucky us. Stratos tend to hold in their emotions, then erupt in a big way. Without warning. Kind of like me pre-progesterone.

Relief efforts are underway, the local Cruz Roja [cruise ROW-ha, Red Cross] is coordinating the work. Expats are driving over to their local office, giving money, bottled water, personal items (diapers and the like are critical needs). If you'd like to donate, I don't know what to suggest other than to give to your local Red Cross and hope it trickles down to Costa Rica. I've tried to find an online place to donate but so far no luck. If I find one, I'll post it here. We need an expat online Red Cross PayPal account for emergencies. I'm plotting...

Hurricanes vs. Earthquakes

Right off the bat, I prefer hurricanes. You get ample warning, at least a week. You won't know whether or not the 'cane is going to land on your house until the last 8 or so hours, but that's way better than no warning at all. Which is what we got today.

At 1:20pm, a big badass earthquake shook the central valley. According to the OVSICORI, the tremor had a magnitude of 6.2 and a depth of 30km with its epicenter 10km east of San Pedro de Poás, Alajuela, near the Volcán Poás. Um, that's a mere twenty five miles from my house. Click on the picture to view it larger.

There have been over 1000 aftershocks since, intensities ranging from 2 to 4 on the Richtor scale. I'm pretty sure I felt all of them.

Yikes. 10pm: just had another one. I'm jumpy, to say the least. We are sleeping in our clothes tonight. I have a flashlight and a bag packed by the garage door with shoes and my purse in case we have to run outside in the middle of the night. I can't decide if I should pack the sex toys in the bag and carry them out, or leave them inside. Would it be better for someone to find them in the rubble of the house or to find them actually on my dead body when they dig me out from the center of the earth? I'm so nervous I'm having a hard time making decisions.

Today's terramoto [tear-ah-MOW-toe, say it rolling the rrs, eathquake] came so completely out of the blue that several volcanologists along with students from England and their teachers were inside Volcán Poás doing a study when the thing hit. They got out alive. They also reported that the inside of the volcano did not change - that's a good thing.

Tragically, four people have died. By some miracle, only four.

This video shows some shots of the shakin' goin' on - this is from Teletica Canal 7, they were filming when it hit. You can see how long it lasted. May not seem long to you but when you are riding it, it seems like forever. Good chance to practice your Spanish:

Here are tidbits from news and online forums:

• La Nacion is updating online. Good pictures, more good practice.

• "A strong earthquake shook Costa Rica on Thursday, sending frightened residents running into the streets of the capital as windows shattered and walls cracked. Thousands of people ran from homes and shopping centers, frightened by the quake. In the capital, women kneeled to pray in plazas. Others cried."

• Local TV station Teletica showed broken windows, fallen ceiling panels and cracked walls in Alajuela.

• Much damage is located in the area of Fraijanes, the village on the road from Alajuela to Volcán Poás.

• Major long term destruction was caused on the road between Heredia and Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, specifically between Los Cartagos, before Vara Blanca, and San Miguel/Cariblanco.

• Several people who were driving on the road near Poás are trapped in their cars, including a bus load of people who are near San Miguel of Sarapiqui. They cannot continue driving on the road. They will spend the night there...

• Many visitors to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens are trapped there due to the exit roads being blocked to the south (Heredia) and erased to the north (Sarapiqui). Starting Friday morning, 9 Jan, helicopters will start airlifting foreign visitors, many of whom missed flights home, towards Central Valley emergency posts.

• Damage to the Heredia/Sarapiqui road is of such proportions that passage in a near future will be impossible, do to whole sections having virtually disappeared. There will probably not be any passage for years to come. The Angel factory (they make jams) near Cariblanco has been reduced to sitting on an isle without access from any direction.

• Access from the Central Valley to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens could be possible when obstructions have been cleared.

• The Dam at Cariblanco has fissures but is considered safe at this time.

• There have been landslides into the Rio Sarapiqui.

• Two microbuses have overturned near the Catarata [cah-tah-RAH-tah, waterfall] de La Paz (La Paz Waterfall Gardens); they are not reporting serious injuries.

• The hotel Jardines de La Cataratas de Poás is reported damaged.

• La Paz Waterfall Gardens has over 100 tourists trapped there. They are probably more nervous than me.

• The photos of the waterfall show only MUD flowing over the falls.

• Several tourists have been injured, but they are saying none seriously. They have been evacuated to San Jose.

• Several homes and roads are reported fallen and blocked in Vara Blanca.

• Poas of Alajuela, San Isidro of Heredia, San José, Vara Blanca and Fraijanes are the towns most affected.

• Route 126 to Sarapiqui is closed.

• Route 146 to Poas has significant damage.

• Five bridges are destroyed in Sarapiqui and Bajo de Toro.

• A bridge over the Rio Cuarto collaped.

• The bridge at El Angel is gone; the river wiped it out.

• There are some people trapped in Hotel Monte Azul in Alajuela.

• Much damage in some buildings in Heredia and Alajuela; houses in Cartago have also collapsed.

• There was a 4.0 earthquake last Wednesday, January 7, in the same area.
  

• Another strong earthquake felt yesterday in El Salvador.

• The reports right now are that this earthquake was caused by a fault, not the Volcán Poás. Since experts liken Poás to Mount Vesuvius, this is excellent news.

• They are saying it had an intensity of 6.2 but at the epicenter the damages were as if it was 8. That's like "wind chill factor" in earthquake-speak.

• Red alert declared by the National Emergency Commission

• Costa Rica usually has earthquakes during Christmas and Easter week, but because of the absence of high rises, most of the time there are minimum damages. So don't worry: if my single story house disappears into the fault, damages will be minimum.

• Two Blocks of Avenida Central reserved for pedestrians are closed because of fallen glass and open buildings.

As of now, the National Emergency Commisión is recommending people stock up on water and canned food as well as batteries and flashlight as a preventive measure. They don't mention what to do with your sex toys. I guess if nothing bad happens, I'll have plenty of batteries. Trying to look on the bright side.

So. There hasn't been an aftershock jolt in over an hour. Does that mean anything? I have such an active imagination, I keep thinking I feel things still moving. Like I'm in touch with the center of the earth. Like vertigo on the ground floor. I suppose I should stop worrying about it. Since there's no warning, the number and frequency of aftershocks doesn't mean a darn thing, right? Yeah. Hurricanes are definitely my disaster of choice.