Vacation Journal #2: Vacationing is Dangerous

So, I droned on and on in my last post about some traveling challenges we've faced since arriving in Costa Rica two weeks ago. Sure, we experienced the worst thunderstorm that they have had here in over 2 years, losing power, therefore having to move accommodations...yada, yada, yada.

But, have I mentioned that Lily almost drown on the first day in the Pacific ocean, that I broke a bone in my big toe on the 6th day, and OH, there was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake here on our 10th day (the 2nd largest that this country has ever had)? If you're a friend of mine on Facebook then I know you heard about the last two. I failed to brag about my questionable parenting skills when Lily almost drowned.

Vacationing is dangerous.
I will go in sequential order...

On our first full day, I took Lily to run around on the beach.
First, for those of you who have never been to Costa Rica and don't know anything about surfing, Playa Hermosa is one of the most famous surf breaks in the world. In 2010 they even hosted the World Surfing Championship here. This is AWESOME if you're like my husband and surfing takes president over most things in life but if you're just an average beach goer, Hermosa is not for you. Think 10-12 foot walls of water with deadly rip currents, even in the shallow portion. It's a crazy amount of energy.
Gorgeous beach, but not for swimmers.

So. Lily was LOVING running around in the white water, splashing around as the waves finished crashing on shore. She was in no deeper than ankle high water. She was getting more and more comfortable and I was letting her see how strong the water felt on her feet as it pulled back into the ocean. I started chasing her, letting her get a little more independent and further away from me, as she was running through all of the seemingly harmless white water when all of the sudden a bigger wave came, probably up to just under her knees, and as the wave pulled back, it took Lily under with her, causing her to fall backwards.

I was only about two steps behind her but it seemed like ten minutes before I was able to get a hold of her. The force and weight of this water is so unbelievable that it took all of my strength to hold onto her and pick her up. She was 100% submerged at one point, as I tried to lift her up. It was as if the ocean was hungry for a redheaded three year old, trying to suck her out to sea. It's so powerful.

When the water was safely back in the ocean and I was able to see her face...I cannot even explain the look. She was really just...surprised. She whined a bit because she had a TON of sand in her mouth, which she immediately started crunching on, not able to figure out what really just happened, but overall she was pretty brave. She was black, from head to toe, with the volcanic sand of Hermosa. It was in every orifice. Her ear canals were full, it was embedded in her scalp...it was actually a pretty great kodak moment but I was too busy shaking from the mom-of-the-year experience to snap a picture, although I'm pretty sure my mom took one soon after which I will post here soon.
The good news is that Lily is not scarred by this and continues to LOVE playing in the surf. Me, on the other hand, scarred.

*****
Toe story...
Not much to it: I'm clumsy and tripped up the stairs at our hotel. I wish there was a better story, like the alligator sized iguana that we saw in Manuel Antonio National Park stepped on it or bit it, but no, I'm just clumsy. Had a difficult time walking for a couple of days when the toe was double it's normal size, but the swelling has gone down some and I have gained some mobility back, able to walk somewhat normally again. Classic me.
****
Earthquake...
Sigh.
I might have a little Post Traumatic (funny that my computer auto-corrected this word to "Dramatic", which is very fitting, I'm sure) Stress Disorder from this one.
I live in Florida. We have hurricanes. I know nothing about earthquakes and tsunamis, apparently. We have DAYS to prepare for a hurricane, at least 5 days. Earthquakes just happen, as do tsunamis that follow earthquakes.
Well.
Dustin went out surfing around 7-7:30am on Wednesday morning. I was cleaning up the bunglow, doing some laundry, and playing with Lily. Around 8:40ish, Lily was sitting on the couch watching Scooby Doo and I was about 4 foot away from her, sitting at the kitchen table taking off toe nail polish. The bungalow started to sway, which isn't unusual since it's on stilts and even running up the stairs or the dryer makes the place sway. I thought to myself that Dustin must be home from surfing, running up the stairs.

But within seconds the severe shaking added to the swaying and it felt like the whole place was going to collapse from under us. I ran over to the couch, hugged Lily tight, smiled and said, "We're having an earthquake, baby!!", as happy and calm as I could muster. She wasn't afraid. She seemed confused and was just looking around at everything falling off of the walls and the shelves.

It lasted all of a minute but it felt like 10.

The first thing Lily said? "Mom, you need to clean up this mess!". Wonder whose daughter she is?

After it was over, I ran outside where I saw the cute family next door from California (now Costa Rican residents) loading up their kids in their car, telling me that we had to leave right.now. I was slightly confused. I was not thinking about tsunamis. I failed middle school science.

California family educated me, quickly, on the tsunami warning that was in effect and that going to higher ground was necessary. My mind flashed back to that horrible tsunami a few years ago in Sumatra and the devastation it left behind.

I really started to panic at this point because Dustin was still surfing. I asked Laura from California to watch Lily for just a minute so I could run out on the beach to find Dustin. Of course, on this day, the surf was PERFECT so there were about 40 guys in the water. Not one clue which one was Dustin. Not only were there too many, they were spread out over about 600 yards. Another surfing widowed wife and I tried diligently to wave in...someone...to no avail. Those surfers had no idea what just happened and that they might be riding the biggest wave of their lives any minute.

I ran back to the bungalow, cute California family takes off, and everyone else was in a panic. A couple of the other American residents thought that the threat of a tsunami was ridiculous, but they are also burned out, single hippie men that probably are not even sure of the day...or year.

The property manager, Twinka (yes, that's right), came racing up in her pick-up screaming, "VANESSA, YOU NEED TO LEAVE RIGHT.NOW. DO NOT WAIT FOR DUSTIN! GET TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN NOW!". She begged for me to just jump in her truck with Lily but I could not convince myself to leave Dustin...yet.

I was now completely shaking, realizing the severity of what was going on but I had to be calm for Lily. I went back into the bungalow and calmly collected a couple of things and told Lily we needed to go for a ride. I made the decision to leave my husband behind. The "what ifs" running through my mind were unreal. Anxiety sufferers will understand. Shit, even if you're not an anxiety sufferer, you would be in this situation.

Just as I put our Suzuki in reverse, my husband came running down the road. And I started to cry a little. I was so overwhelmed.
I pulled it together quickly and we drove to the top of the cliff where about ten other bungalow residents and renters were parked. We just sat up there, recounting our experiences, and feverishly trying to get a cell phone to work to see about this tsunami warning. After about 15 minutes, someone said, "Tsunami warning has been lifted!!", which was complete bullshit but we wanted to believe it, so we went back to the bungalows. CNN told us that the tsunami warning was indeed still in effect. So we left again, complete with a picnic this time.

We returned an hour later, sans tsunami warning.
There was very little damage to this immediate area. A few broken water pipes, cracked tiles, shifted door frames, broken drinking glasses, but nothing major. Closer to the epicenter, about 90 miles north of Hermosa, there was some more significant damage but nothing what a 7.6 could really do. Apparently, the earthquake originated 25 miles deep, which is what spared Costa Rica this time. This was the second largest quake to hit, the highest was a 7.9 in 1991 in which the result was 160 billion dollars in damage. We were all lucky this time.

It was a very surreal, crazy experience. We felt a few aftershocks that night which got my heart racing a bit.

A vacation to be remembered, for sure!

And yes, I still want to move here.

Cookies for anyone that read this. It's a novel. I just had to capture these memories before I forget.