My day started way too early today. I received a message at 130am from an associate in my home country. He saw on a local TV that Volcan Fuego in Antigua has been much more active. Considering that I did see a lot of smoke spewing out of the volcano earlier that morning, I have to admit that I got a little paranoid. I checked with someone local in the wee hours of the morning just to be sure. I felt bad disturbing her sleep, but I am also in a foreign country alone and I never had to face this situation before. I am not sure I did the right thing by confirming that all was okay. Everyone local is so calm about it. Even after speaking to her and received her assurances, I still could not go back to sleep. I just wished 430am arrived and my shuttle whisked me to Guatemala City to catch my flight to Flores, Peten and get out of Antigua as fast as I could. Everything went smoothly and I really was just being paranoid :). Then later that day a friend reported that a small earthquake was recorded in the Northern part of Honduras. When I told the same girl, she seems unfazed and she told me even the volcanoes and Antigua are fine. Lessons learned: if the locals are cool about these things, maybe I should have been to. It did make me realize though, I do not know how I will react in times of crisis. Is there a good training to ensure you react calmly and coolheadedly in unknown situations?? I suppose I was paranoid because statistically Antigua is due for either an eruption (last one in 2010 Volcan Pacaya) and the last big quake was in 1950s. It is still not an excuse though….