Back to Normal.....

So today it seemed like everything was back to normal.

In the morning I went out towards the hostel to see how all of the others were doing, and we went out for coffee, hung out at the park, got some lunch, and then went out for coffee.  There were new people here so it was good getting to meet them.  Along the way I picked up a newspaper to hang on to for memory's sake.

I passed by a grocery store on my way home and was puzzled to see a gate and the police guarding the entrance.  They told me that it was closed until tomorrow, even though there were people inside and it was obvious that it was open.  I found out that they did that to prevent too many people from entering and the possibility of looting or stealing.

While we were enjoying things pretty much completely normal (with the exception of small piles of dirt and rubble and a few streetlamps with a light missing), we saw images of complete destruction, looting, police, and tsunamis after some strong aftershocks south of here.  It seemed like we were in a completely different world and hard to believe that about 200 miles south of us such chaos was playing out.

When I returned in the evening, Fabiola and Gustavo were home, and her son Fabian was visiting.  Fabiola made some more delicious food for us, and I feel like I would not be eating as well as I am if it were not for her.  We watched the news while we ate and talked about random things while we got to know each other better.  Claudia (my other roommate) finally made it home, and it was a relief to see her.

We've had some problems with the internet not connecting or being slow, but if need be I can always go to an internet cafe.  A few times the lights started to dim, and apparently we might have completely lost power so we turned off all the electricity for a while to be on the safe side.  Other than that, here has not been a problem.

Here are some pictures of after the earthquake (and the lack of damage in my area) and spending time with my roommates.  I wanted to post some more pictures, but the internet is incredibly slow and I have given up on adding them for now.