7.6

This morning, I rolled out of bed, gobbled down my gallopinto, cheery eggs and toast and sleepily stumbled down the street to the bus stop. I kept glancing down at my watch, wondering when the bus would eventually arrive. I hopped on the bus, and began the routine ride going as smoothly as these buses go (which usually involves sudden braking and accelerating amidst people climbing aboard or signaling for "parada" (bus stop) to get off).

Perhaps 100 meters from the bus stop that I normally get off at, traffic slowed from its glacial pace to a solid standstill. The bus began to quiver slightly...well, that's a bit odd, I pondered to myself. Is this shaking more than normal? Perhaps. Or maybe the bus is having problems and is breaking down? Oh wait, definitely more shaking that normal. Wow, this is a noticeable front-to-back, side-to-side motion! Like a more tame version of being on a rodeo horse! And indeed, the bus driver, must've had a similar sentiment as he kept one hand on the wheel on the stopped bus with the other one flailing about in the air, mimicking a rider of a bucking bronco. Oh, maybe this is an earthquake!

The epicenter was 87 miles west of San José, and 25 miles underground (map from ABC news)

Well, the shaking stopped, and the traffic remained, so I hopped off the bus, and made my way to the language school. I thought it was a bit odd that there were so many people outside of their offices and houses after just a slight tremor. After all, Costa Rica is prone to some quakes since two seismic plates timidly (or today, more aggressively) touch, moving toward each other at about 80mm per year. There's even two Spanish words to describe earthquakes: "temblor" for the meager under 5.0 magnitude, and "terremoto" for the ones greater than 5.0 magnitude that mean more serious business.

When I got to school, it had been perhaps 10 minutes since the terremoto had passed, but I hadn't know that it was actually a strong one until I heard someone remark, "SIETE PUNTO NUEVE!" 7.9? Es verdad? No way, José. But, basically true! It was initially recorded as a 7.9 magnitude, and later readjusted to 7.6. And there was no damage that I saw in San José...except that when we entered our class room, one of the closet doors had fallen down, knocked off its hinges! 

Since San José is about 87 miles east of the epicenter, the force was probably more muted here, but nonetheless, Ticos have been saying this is the strongest quake they remember being shook up by in recent history. Apparently, some workplaces and schools (including the Universidad de Costa Rica) were cancelled today after the event, but our classes continued as usual!