Shake, rattle and roll...

The massive earthquake in Chile strangely by-passed hostel-dwellers in Salta, Argentina.

Most fellow hostellers were completely unfazed by the news. The live coverage of a potential tsunami in Hawaii did elicit some interest, but only once the hockey was finished. Obviously dude!

But then something happened...the earthquake you didn't hear about on the news: the Salta quake! 6.1 on the richter scale, two deaths and a lot of shaking. There I was minding my own business - sitting on my bed in fact (WORKING, before you say anything Puja, you smutty little fox you) - when the sky started to rumble with a dull thunder.

The cleaner outside my room continued with her work and it occurred to me for a moment that she must be scrubbing very hard to make such a racket. Then everything started to shake. Seriously, it was like the room was a tin can being rattled in the wind. The earth didn't part but it certainly did move some.

It didn't really hit me what was happening at first, but then the panicked look of the cleaner registered that perhaps all was not well. And then... Well, then it was over as quickly as it began.

Other hostellers later confirmed that panic had stricken the streets of Salta. In the supermarket there was a en mass charge for the exit as products toppled off the shelves in spectacular style and the streets were filled as people fled from the potential death-traps of buildings.

The Salta quake made the Argentine news but was otherwise unreported in the wake of the Chilean tragedy. And to be fair, by comparison, it was not note-worthy.

But still...