News

Sarah: Well we keep plugging away at projects here at QERC. I have been writing postcards to all of the biology departments within the CCCU (Council for Christian Colleges and University) trying to promote QERC a bit, and David has been working outside landscaping during the mornings while it isn't raining. He is switching out all of the non-native ornamental plants for native plants--so as to give a good representation of the plants that grow here in the valley. His hope is to make signs for the different plants, allowing for anyone who shows up at QERC (students, researchers, and even passing tourists) to have and educational experience just by walking around outside the building.

While David has been working outside, he has been fortunate to see many Quetzals fly back and forth right in front of him. The other day he actually saw a juvenile Quetzal with its father. He witnessed the father teaching its baby how to fly into the aguacatillo trees and eat some of the fruit off the tree. Pretty spectacular.

We also have a new neighbor here in the valley. For many months now we have been watching a house go up across the river from where we live and had heard that a gringo was going to be moving in. Harlan showed up at our place last weekend to introduce himself, and since he's been so happy to find someone who he can speak English with, we've talked every day since then! He is an early-retired man who is looking to spend half the year living and saving money in Costa Rica, and the other half the year traveling around the world. Harlan most recently lived in Los Angeles and worked doing documentary voice-overs for different shows including E-Hollywood Story, Pioneers of Primetime, and Modern Marvels. We had him over for dinner last night and had a good time getting to know him better.

And for some not-so-happy news, Lizeth (our housekeeper) told us today that she is putting in her two-weeks notice. It has been a long time coming, but we were still shocked with how soon she'll be leaving. Her husband is currently living with his parents a few hours south of us and is working on building them a house on his parents' property so he can better care for them and their land. Lizeth and the rest of her family have been deciding when to join him, and she finally decided that she wanted some time at home with her kids right now as they begin packing up and getting ready to move. We are really sad about the loss of Lizeth, and a bit overwhelmed as we need to find someone to replace her already next week so she can be trained by Lizeth.

Seasons Changing

David: It is a treat to observe seasons change. I think that an extremely rewarding exercise is to closely observe the changing seasons in a place where you can closely look at the details around you. Here we are seeing more rain, new flowers, new bugs, and we are missing the migratory birds that have returned once again to northern climates to raise kids.

Seasons have changed in more than air temperature and levels of water in the rain gauge. We lost our students to the end of the semester so the crazy college season is transitioning into a slower paced season of projects and short-term student groups and researchers. Actually, right now we have two professional photographers here who are working on a collection of moth and butterfly photographs. They are trying to take a more artistic approach versus the traditional nature photography close up shot.

There is also a married couple who is beginning to use our facilities here and will continue to be here off and on over the next few years. They are combining their biology and sociology interests to put together a very interesting PhD project. The project is looking at the correlation of forest conservation to quality of life of the people that live in the areas of conservation. They are focusing on the area of Los Santos which is an area that we are a part of.

Besides staying busy with hosting and small projects like landscaping with native plants we were lucky to have a couple of our friends visit us recently. Jason and Jana Grenn found themselves in Costa Rica, all the way from Alaska, for vacation and a visit to the Hilles. We were able to take a few days to join them on the south pacific coast and then brought them here to QERC to enjoy the cloud forest.

It was a blessing to share a few days with the Grenns and we had some highlights along the way. Jason and I rented some boogie boards in Dominical and shredded the nar-nar. The waves were pretty big. We spent more time rolling inside the waves than actually riding them. There was one particular rogue wave that as it crashed over me all I could think about was the wave in “The Perfect Storm.” I was Mark Whalberg and Jason was George Clooney. Jason took the brunt of it and went down with the ship.

We drove the Costenara highway south with them and on the way to Ojochal we stopped at a waterfall to check it out. It ended up being a diamond in the rough. It was a beautiful swimming hole with a picturesque waterfall. But, the kicker was that there was a rope swing. As my grade school campers at Mission Springs taught me to say, it was off the chain. A few local kids were there showing off and Jason and I couldn’t come close to being as acrobatic as they were.

We enjoyed a couple relaxing rainy days at QERC drinking hot chocolate and playing Carcassone. Then, we took them on the indisputable thrill of their vacation and probably our time here in Costa Rica. We rafted the Pacuare River again. Only this time in the rainy season and the river was pumping. Roberto, owner of Tico River Adventures, told me that if the river was any higher they would have canceled the trip, and if the group was anyone but us they also would have canceled. It was serious stuff. Normally the river takes 4 ½ hours to raft. The river was moving so swiftly that we finished it in 2 ½ . That means that the rapids were huge too. It was 110% of your daily recommended adrenaline. Sarah and I are back at QERC, still limping around because our muscles are so sore.

There and Back Again

David: We’ve been there and now we’ve been back again. Guatemala. As students we spent two weeks in Guatemala almost exactly five years ago. In need to renew our Costa Rican visas and use some free time at a RCI resort gifted to us by Dad and Mom Gosselink, we found ourselves in Antigua, Guatemala for a week of relaxation and cultural exposure.

Antigua is a very well maintained colonial town that is now the home of a hot tourist spot. It maintains its integrity of a colonial town and makes for a great spot to people watch, eat good food, and enjoy the view of three beautiful volcanoes. We really enjoyed our time there.

One place in Guatemala that has intrigued Sarah and I is the Mayan ruins at Tikal in the northern most part of Guatemala. We thought we might try to work in a visit while in Guatemala. So…… the adventure commenced. We took a very long bus ride and spent all day Tuesday there exploring the ruins. It was worth it as we now can say we have seen the Mayan ruins hidden deep in the rainforests of Guatemala. The ruins were very interesting and impressive. The rainforest was full of life as well. One of the highlights had to have been seeing a troop of Spider Monkeys walk across a set of ruins on their their back feet. It felt like we were in a scene from the Jungle Book. In fact, I did have a giant boa constrictor try to hypnotize me.

Having plenty of time to relax in Antigua, we decided to take another trip to a far off destination. This time it was Honduras. Neither of us had been before and Copan was only a short 5 hours away. Actually, it really didn’t seem that short. The ride seemed long but it was really interesting to see so much of the country side of southern Guatemala. And what was really interesting was that as soon as we crossed the border into Honduras there was an evident difference in the people and the homes. All the men wear cowboy hats. We spent our time in the city of Copan just soaking up the Honduran lifestyle. It was a cool experience for a super long day of travel.

So, Guatemala is a beautiful country. The people are beautiful too. One interesting thing was that we saw many North American couples with their newly adopted Guatemalan babies. Anyway, we had a great time and our visas our now renewed.