Coffee and Earthquakes

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Temblora! Temblora! Earthquake! Yes, we had an earthquake here. Two earthquakes to be exact. The first happened at about 4 am. I didn’t feel it although it was definitely one that I should have felt because it about 5.7 or so on the richter scale. At breakfast, I hadn’t realized what happened when Angelica and Jenni were talking about it. I could tell something was happening because they were excited in their speech but I wasn’t familiar with the term they were using and I my alarm hadn’t gone off so I was a bit flustered. So I went to the office and at about 9 am another one hit. This I felt. Although, I still realize what was going on right away! I was sitting in a plastic chair and first felt a big wobble which I thought it was one of the many people behind me bumping into my chair. I looked behind me and no one was there. I thought it was weird. Then it really started wobbling and everyone ran out of the inside of the office. Then I realized what was happening but still had to ask! Was that an earthquake?! Crazy! I’ve never experienced an earthquake. What an odd sensation. I’ll be more on the lookout next time because today my reactions were not very fast! They only lasted for a few seconds and there wasn’t any damage anywhere even though it was still pretty large. It was the excitement and the talk of the day. At least for me it was! It was exciting, even though I shouldn’t say that because of the terrible quakes that have happened. Nonetheless, what a sensation!

The earthquake was by far the most exciting part of my day. I’m still working on getting into some projects that I can really have an impact on. I still very much enjoy the company of my homestay family. Tonight at dinner we talked about coffee and how the kids drink it at a young age in Guatemala. Jenni told me that Jaquelyn, the youngest of 3 years old, drinks coffee! She loves it. It is wild how much coffee they drink here! It is so funny too, Dona Angelica drinks probably 8 or 9 cups of it a day and she HAS to have a this particular brand. I forget what it is but I’ll find out…Incacafe or something? Anyway, I found out about a roaster very close to my house so I’ll have to check it out soon. Today was a day of coffee and earthquakes.