Earthquake today

Just wanted to let any interested folks out there know that we are all safe and well here following today's earthquake. The rumble that I felt was like the vibration that you feel when a piece of heavy earthmoving equipment is approaching from some distance away. Both the sound and vibration grew stronger over about 20 - 30 seconds before the evacuation siren sounded and we had to leave our building. There was no damage to our building, home or N's school and we are all fine. After the building was cleared we all went back to work. Thank you to those of you who sent emails today expressing your concern. It is nice to know that you thought of us.

 

If you want to know more about the earthquake click here:

 

http://earthquake-report.com/2013/09/25/very-strong-earthquake-acari-peru-on-september-25-2013/

This site mentions that three miners were killed by the earthquake. These workers were not at our mine and at the time of writing, those deaths are not confirmed.

Misti and Chachani are active today

We are very lucky that from where we live we can see the three big (>19,000 feet) volcanoes that overlook Arequipa. Today we noticed that Misti and Chachani are puffing out smoke, indicating an increase in activity (once a geologist, always a geologist). Here are a couple of photos of Misti this morning:

We have our "Go Bags" (which we keep ready in case of evacuation due to earthquakes (frequent here) or volcanic eruptions (less common but still obviously a possibility)) just in case we need to. Let's hope not!

Lo Que El...? (What the...?) #2

Here's another quirky thing about living in Peru. This sign was on the door of a toilet cubicle in Lima airport:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Unfortunately it's a bit blurry, but it says: "Le agradecemos no arrojar papeles ni toallas higienicas en el inodoro" which translates as "Please don't put toilet paper or sanitary towels in the toilet." That's right folks, no toilet paper in the toilet please (there are rubbish bins inside every toilet cubicle for the used paper to go in, so you can imagine that they don't always smell too good). Evidently, sewerage systems in Peru are not designed to accommodate toilet paper, which is designed to be put into... sewerage systems.