Earthquake Flu

We were away from Loreto Bay when Hurricane John blew through in September flooding the arroyos and causing some minor damage to the homes in the village. However, we did get to experience a work of nature of another sort: an earthquake. Robert felt the first one last Thursday night. Then we all felt the bigger one early Sunday morning. It was a 5.0. The epicenter was somewhere out in the Sea of Cortez. Had we not been still in our beds we might not have felt it. Nothing else in the house shook or rattled; only the beds seemed to vibrate. Contrary to canine folklore, no dogs, including our own, barked in warning. I had to do an online search to determine if we'd really had an earthquake. Amazing, how many earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The website I found was peppered with recent tremor hits. The earth below us is an active little bugger.

My friend Sarah said her family ran to the window to watch the sea for a tsunami wave. Yikes! I believe a tsunami in the Sea of Cortez is a geological impossibility, but what do I know? Robert and I speculated on why this is so--the sea is too small, the islands protect the peninsula, but we really don't know why. Then we discussed, or rather I discussed, the best action to take in view of an oncoming tsunami. "How long would it take to make a run for the hills?" "If you can actually see the wave coming how much time would you have?" "Do you think our house would withstand the force of a wave?" "Shouldn't we head to the highest spot--our viewing tower?" Of course, Robert laughed at me, but every good mother needs to pre-think these things. We've felt a few after-shocks, or tremors since. The last one was yesterday afternoon.

Sunday was also the day I came down with a horrible flu--fever, chills, painful coughing. On day two I worried that it might be serious, which is rare for me since I'm never sick. Robert crossed the street to the Loreto Bay offices to ask someone for advice on medical care. Everyone jumped to his aide making calls to find Dr. Green. Within an hour Dr. Green was at my bed; my first home visit ever from a physician. He wrote out a prescription for some antibiotics and took 40 dollars payment for his services. Robert and I are still in amazement. It's like the country doctors of old days. Despite his anglo name, Dr. Oscar Green is actually a Mexican who greeted me with "Hola, Senora". There are several founding families in Loreto with names like Davis, Cunningham, Green, and everyone seems to be related.

Today I am still pretty weak. I would sit out in the sunshine on the terrace, but the working crews are right outside our house this week preparing the ground for hardscaping. So now that the winds finally died down, the machinery is stirring up even more dust. And all day I get to hear the scraping of shovels against gravel. It's like nails on a chalkboard. But then, I'm a little hyper-sensitive at the moment. It seems like the best place for me is bed with the drapes pulled and the doors shut. It's also the best place to detect earthquakes.