Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic?

So, at the front desk, we asked how far a walk it is to Agua Azul, a nearby restaurant that had been recommended. Only two minutes away. When we got there (in, of course, the rain), it was closed. So we walked back and asked for cab to take us to La Cantina (another recommended place).

The guy working the front desk rang the cab company, and, after a bit, put down the phone and noted, “the cabs are probably not running because of the Tsunami. Everyone is leaving Quepos.” Oh.

What? Tsunami. Hmmm. . .somehow you would think that there would be more information forthcoming, and sooner. So I asked a insightful follow-up question. “Tsunami?” He went on to say there had been an earthquake in Peru and the Tsunami was expected to hit around 9pm – which was 1½ hours from our conversation.

So we went to the Rico Tico restaurant at the resort, figuring that we were pretty high up the hill and would be safe. We talked of the Tsunami, the day’s rafting, the Tsunami, Harry Potter, the Tsunami, etc. We kept checking our watches, and wondered if we’d be better off just a bit higher up the hill. Undoubtedly the lower level hotels had been evacuated.

We wondered how much damage would be caused, and how to get out of the area to return as planned on Friday. We each wondered whether we should be moving up to even higher ground.

Dinner was good (I had the snook, and Carol and I split another bottle of the Chilean Trio wine that we had liked at Puente Islita) but there was one freaky moment. Suddenly the lights went out – and we got ready to bolt up the hill, figuring if the locals were leaving, so were we. However, it was just for the show they put on when serving the banana flambe – flipping the burning rum from metal gravy boat to metal gravy boat – and pouring some on the glass table to burn out. It was a pretty good show.

Around 9:10, an American woman joined her three friends with the news that the Tsunami warning had been cancelled. The excitement was over. Fortunately. Not just for us, but for all.