This blog post is about Costa Rican bananas, lemons … and earthquakes.
Because why not?
They’re all common here!
So common, in fact, that I completely forgot to mention the most recent earthquake on April 27th, which I felt as “quite the jolt” at night here in San Isidro de Grecia, Costa Rica. In fact, the jolt woke me from a sound sleep. I only experienced about 15 seconds of the entire 30 seconds or so that it was rocking and rolling, so it must have started out rather tame.
It originated quite deep — about 65 to 75 kilometers below the surface — which was good, because had it been less deep, it could have caused major damage, potentially up to the size of a 10.0 quake. (The 1994 Alaska quake was a magnitude 9.2 event.)
Like the Pacific NW, where I’m from, Costa Rica is on the Ring of Fire. We have six active volcanoes here (none as big or potentially deadly as Mount Rainier) and many fault lines.
I’ve experienced three quakes in the seven months I’ve been here, so about one every two months. Because I was so close to the 7.7 Northridge Quake in 1994, these Costa Rican quakes have felt very minor and pretty darned enjoyable.
ENJOYABLE?!!!
(Explanation: I tend to go into a Spock-like “Fascinating…” Mode when quakes hit. The Northridge one was truly unprecedented for me and quite unsettling — it sounded like a freight train was in the house and felt like King Kong or Godzilla was dribbling the structure like a basketball.)
Two of these three CR quakes that I’ve experienced originated in the Pacific Ocean, more than 147 miles from where I am. Only the April 27th one originated underneath Costa Rica itself.
The Bananas and Lemons
Just wandered down to the lower garden for the first time in couple of weeks to grab a lemon off a tree there, but then I wandered down more to where the plantains and bananas are growing and spotted a cluster of bananas that is ready to be eaten. In fact, some birds and other creatures had already taken a few of them. So I broke off six of those and brought them to the house. They taste unlike any store bought bananas, because they’re right off the tree, as fresh as can be. Tasty! The plantains are still very green and small, so they won’t be ready for a while yet.
The small pineapples have been chewed on by critters and insects, so they aren’t harvestable, unfortunately.
The tree out front is crammed with avocados, but they aren’t ready to be harvested quite yet, either. They’ll be ready before the plantains will, though. It shouldn’t be a lot longer now.
It’s so nice to be able to pick fruit right off the tree and save money that way. I expect there’s at least six months each year here during which fruit picking will be available…