Wild Wild Week

Wow. Well, so, it is just after 8 in the morning on a Thursday morning and after not hearing the start of school bell, I went outside to see what was going on to find no students anywhere. Suddenly it dawned upon me that because of a 6.5 - that is right, 6.5 - magnitude earthquake last night, there would not be classes. (If you read Spanish, check out this website for news on the quake: http://www.correoperu.com.pe/correo/ciudad.php?txtEdi_id=6).

The quake last night was noticable and strong - we went running out of our house and power was knocked out - but I had no idea at the time that it was a 6.5. The epicenter was also just 60 miles away. Luckily there was no real damage and no injuries here in Habitat. The experience was thrilling in some ways and terrifying in others, but at least now I am glad to have a sense of what a real earthquake would be like and hopefully would know what to do.

The events of the last 12 hours are just part of what has been a bizarre and adreneline-filled week. It began on Saturday with Nate´s birthday, and then Sunday and Monday we danced morenada in the Fiesta de las Cruces (which was incredibly thrilling and wonderful and I will write more about this when I can post the pictures), and yesterday I found out that we actually won the dance contest on Monday night. Needless to say, it has been an exciting and fun time to be in Tacna, and I promise I will try to detail what the dancing was like when I get my camera back.