As I packed my bags on the last evening of our stay at Llanganuco Lodge, I felt the ground sway beneath my feet. I’ve been known to experience random dizzy spells, but this felt different. Instead of feeling as though I were spinning in circles, it felt as though my feet were literally swaying back and forth on the ground below for a couple seconds.

“Could that have been an earthquake?” I wondered. It seemed doubtful, and Schuyler wasn’t nearby so I couldn’t ask if he had felt it too. I shrugged it off as a dizzy spell and didn’t think about it again…

Until we were back in the main lodge saying our goodbyes. “Did you feel the earthquake?” the staff asked. “Yes! Yes yes yes! That was an earthquake?! I knew it!” Sort of. Schuyler had apparently felt it too but had waved it off as his imagination or symptoms of altitude sickness.

Then they asked if we heard the avalanche. Neither of us had heard anything, but the staff said that after they felt the earthquake, they heard a loud rumbling sound coming from the mountains. We of course thought this was awesome, then realized we would be driving down the mountains in about 10 minutes. Hmm, slightly concerning.

Needless to say, we arrived safely at the bus station two hours later and took a red-eye bus to arrive in Lima the next morning. Schuyler immediately felt better–we were out of the clouds and back to sea level.