shaking up the neighbors

There is a reason the rim of the Pacific is called the "ring of fire." From New Zealand to Japan to Oregon to Chile. A continuous ring of volcanoes.

As well as active tectonic plates. You know that stack of dishes that always get pushed forward in your cabinet resulting in broken crockery? When that happens with tectonic plates, we call it an earthquake.

And that is what happened here this morning just before 8. I was studying my Spanish in my bedroom when there was a small jolt. I barely noticed. We have those small tremors frequently here. I went back to dealing with my preterites.

A few minutes later, at 8:05 AM to be precise, another jolt came along. The first was no more remarkable than if a delivery truck had hit the tope near my house. This one sounded as if a freight train had decided to take a shortcut through my patio.

Not a particularly long train because the shaking lasted for only a few seconds. But sufficient to bring my mother and son into the patio to avoid being one of those survivors who are later pulled from under collapsed concrete.

It turns out the epicenter was quite close. The US Geological service places it just 22 miles from my house in Barra de Navidad. 6 miles deep. Magnitude 5.8.

5.8 is at the upper edge of being a moderate earthquake. Usually, there is slight damage associated with it. From what I have read online, no damage was reported with this one. Of course, cracks in concrete structures are not always apparent. Says the man who lives in a yards-of-concrete home. I guess we will see when the summer rains arrive.

But it was a bit of excitement for the morning. And something to write about other than Peru.