Location: Costa de Oro, Costa Rica
Word of the day: Terremoto - Earthquake
Turtle Fact: Turtles don't give a **** about earthquakes. (verified from unconfirmed source). Turtles still nested this night.
Immediately the feeling of intoxication runs through my physical body and I instantly realize what is happening.
SIDE-NOTE: The only other time I had every "really" felt an earthquake was in San Francisco, while I working inside of a movie theatre vestibule surrounded from floor to ceiling with large pane windows. Granted nothing happened, I still thought to myself next time this happens... @westcoastissues.

As I stand in the backyard, many things are rushing through my mind. Noticeably I see the house, followed by the landscape of palm trees sway for side to side. I find it semi hard to stand straight up as if I was urban surfing on the back of a pickup truck (and later relive that feeling). I turn to look and make sure the coconut trees are not about to fall on us, nor coconut being ejected out of any trees. As I look around I notice the vast blue sea... DING DING DING. The feeling of panic almost started to sink in as I recall every Hollywood movie I have seen with earthquakes and the tidal waves that proceed it. But then I remember the seeing the video Japan (I think) tsunami and remember it just being a slow rise of the sea level, not necessarily one large wave. I keep a keen eye on the current position on the tide. Every time it retracked into the sea, I keep waiting for it to continue further and further. Knowing that low tide will not happen until 11am a little receding tide is ok. But to my surprise it was acting very normal.
The earth still shaking/rolling from side to side, I know think of what is happening elsewhere. Are housing falling? Bridges collapsing? Waves hitting other parts of land? Will a huge hole about to suck us into the ground? I have no idea - but better not worry about things you can't control or can do nothing about at the moment. Gazing back at Courtney, her eyes filled with tears and fear, she is holding her own and also taking everything in. Matt still grinning with a smile, enjoying the land surfing session. Always thinking about the next step, I know we need to get to higher ground. The quake ends after 1minute and 32 secs. I swear it lasted so much longer.
I begin to run inside to collect some things. As I do this, I bark at Courtney and Matt to grab their shoes - not sandlas, Passport, water and fill up a backpack with whatever necessary and lets get the **** outta here. As I pack with one eye on the ocean, I observe the inside of the house. Glasses, dishes, and everything on the counter is now on the floor. About 2mins later we are all out of the house. We go over the things we each had and felt confident on the things we got. We grabbed the bike and started heading for the road.
The worst part for me is the unknown. I have no idea how tidal waves work with earthquakes, how fast they come, what elevation is considered safe, what the surrounding topography is like (shelves in the water mainly). Mainly - how much time do we have?
We decide it's best to jump in her pickup truck and head to Hotel Laguna Mar. The place in Javilla which was several meters above sea level and seemed to be a viable place to have communication with the outside world.
Knowing that we were safe, stressed and relieved that all of our close friends and family were safe - we decide to break the tension with a couple adult beverages that survived the quake. I feel compelled to help clean some of the mess (mainly around the bar) in order to "pay" for our gratis drinks. Sounded like a win win situation to me! The Pretoma San Miguel group finally arrives and most nerves are calmed by now. We stay here for an hour or so and head back to beach after we hear the tsunami warnings had been called off. At this point everyone's thoughts were about looting. Seeing as most people here are from California, this thought came pretty natural to them - not wanting to loot, rather their houses being looted.
Feeling relieved we just survived an EPIC event in history (at least for us) we discuss about what we should do next. Will there be an after shock? How safe are the houses? When will we have power? What does our food and water rations look like? We decided on first things first. Where are we going to stay tonight? We all decided that Wendy's house would probably be the safest seeing as that has more supplies than ours, plus they have gas (where as our house had electric). Plus you can't go when it comes to safety in numbers.
We arrive to the house and take notice of the damage to the property. Overall everything was intact. There was no structural damage (as far as we can see). Just books, dishes, glasses and frames knocked over. We are in luck! I mean for a 7.6 earthquack lasting over a minute and a half... you would think it would have caused more damage. Perhaps it was the type of earthquake (up and down, vs the rolling - I don't know too much on that), or maybe even where it originated (land vs sea) or maybe even due to the fact that houses in the region were build on sand. I have no clue.
After we get to a certain point, we relax and grab some lunch. Looking back, I am sooo glad I had those little pancakes in my stomach. It certainly helped to be quick on my feet, with a little something in my belly. We enjoy leftovers from both houses. Finally relaxed, looking past the infinity pool to pacific ocean we sit for a while just taking everything in. Looking at all of us, you would have never thought anything happened this morning.
Lotti and Sandra stop by the house to check in on us and to share the news of what she knows. She brings some Peanut butter, cookies and some candles. To be honest, it was just what we needed.

Throughout the rest of the day we check in with neighbors, make phone calls (when service is available) and pass along the hearsay information we gather. The night quickly approaches and Wendy shows us to the guest house where we end up retiring for the night. I wake up at 10pm and again at midnight, thinking it was very early the next day. Nope, just nerves kicking in I suppose.
I wake up once more just after 3am. This time it was to a small tremmor that lasted maybe 10 secs. Matt and I immediately jump up and run outside. The shaking quickly stops, and nothing was altered. The next day we find out it was only a 4 something earthquake. No big deal. Once we get back in the house, I notice a strange noise... the refrigerator was on. WE HAVE ELECTRICITY! I turn on the fan (as it was very hot sleeping) and drag out the laptop and Mifi. No Connectivity. Ohhh well I'll check in the morning. Sleep.
THANKS to everyone that had thought about us and kept us in your prayers during this time period. It great to know we are loved by a much greater community then you might actually realize. We are fortunate to have survived and to have worked together as a community to make sure everything/everyone was safe.
- You can never be too prepared
- Community can play a big role is your success failure of times of chaos
- A good mix of people brings different thoughts to the table
Food: Peanut Butter and Cookies
Animals: Dogs, Humans
Something I am thankful for: People with Vehicles. Your feet can only get you so far away, so high above the sea level in such a given time.
Something I don't want to admit:You know it's 2012 when one of the first things you grab is your computer, external hard drive and camera. (Granted this was after I grabbed my passport, pocket knife and filled water bottle). Also, sorry for the *'s. I'm just excited.
We obviously did not patrol... however people did see turtle come up on the beach last night.
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