Earthquakes and torrential rain

This is already the second report, but a lot has happened. Last night there was a temblor, an earthquake of magnitude 6.1. The epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean, but it was very clearly felt in the city. You feel completely exposed and automatically hold your breath. For some time afterward, my whole body was tense. We're familiar with earthquakes from our time in Chile and in Lima, Peru. The Ticos – that's what Costa Ricans are called – are less worried by them. And usually, not much happens.

The morning started sunny again, and the sun stayed with us until midday. I then enjoyed the small courtyard, which was a bit quieter than inside the house. The traffic on the streets is quite loud. I thought it was only this bad in Lima. Since about 2:00 PM (it's now 6:30 PM), it's been pouring rain, the heaviest rain so far. In the afternoon, we drove with a church council member to La Carpio, a very poor neighborhood, where we delivered food from the harvest festival service to a kindergarten. It took us a very long time to cover just a few kilometers because traffic jams are the norm on the roads. We received a very warm welcome from the staff and were greeted by beaming faces from the children. After touring the house, the director also led us through several streets to a fantastic, relatively new school, which everyone is very proud of. The students are divided into morning and afternoon classes because there isn't enough space. Alongside this were the simple dwellings of the people there in corrugated iron or wooden shacks – a stark contrast. "Coming home" felt like the greatest luxury to us.

In the evenings we relax with German television from the media library or Netflix.