The end

Sarah: Well we did it. We left Costa Rica and "moved" back to the States. Since we left we have spent a week on SNU's campus helping Michael recruit, and also to tie up loose ends. David continued on the recruiting journey to a few other universities with Michael before he officially finished as well. We are all now in Iowa, getting caught up on some much-needed rest and playing with my family. Adele is adjusting well and has even started walking! Our lives will never be the same...

In order to finish up this blog, let me recap our last week in Costa Rica. First let me say that I'm not planning on continuing this blog after this post. We intended it to be a way to keep friends and family updated on our adventures in Costa Rica, and that adventure has come to an end. I'm considering starting another blog that would include stories of reverse culture shock and reports of Adele's progress...but I haven't decided if it would be interesting enough to do yet. :)

Here is us in front of QERC for the very last time

So, this is our final blog post of Costa Rica.

During our last week, Independence Day happened in Costa Rica. It was such a fun way for us to get together with almost the entire community for some fun celebration. And fun it was! The morning of September 14th (Independence Day is the 15th but we celebrated the day before), many of the community members took off on horseback to the top of the hill. We decided to drive this year as there was a shortage of horses and we wanted to save time getting up and down the hill - cars are faster than horses. :) Also to save the inevitable pain our butts would have felt later on. At the top, we witnessed the passing of the torch, as it came down the PanAmerican highway. We listened as our neighbors sang the national anthem, ate some great breakfast that people pulled out of their cars, and headed back down the hill. We got stuck behind another tradition on our way down - the school kids run from the top of the hill down to the school, carrying the torch, with a parade of cars behind them honking and cheering them on. I was impressed - it was about 7-8 kilometers they ran!

Independence Day continued later at the school, with a few hours of fun at the school. The kids danced the traditional dances to the traditional music wearing the traditional dresses, we saw the parade of lights by the kids, heard some readings about the importance of the day, and ate some good traditional food. During the celebration, the hostess had David and me stand up and gave a little talk about how important we were to the community and thanked us for the four years we had spent with them. It was a neat recognition. The evening also included a couple of skits by some of our neighbors that put on a "wedding" and poked fun at the lifestyle of a typical campesino in the olden days. We didn't understand everything that was going on, but everyone was laughing so hard that they were crying, and we couldn't help but join in the laughter. A highlight was at the end of the night when the hostess called 5 volunteer couples up to the center and played music and simply said "dance!" The music kept switching and the dancing kept switching, and at the end of the dancing, we had to choose the winners. It was fun to see such great dancing, and so funny that this was included in part of the Independence Day celebrations!

One last time up at Laura's bakery with friends

During the end of the week, we took the opportunity to deliver our final newsletter to our neighbors, and took advantage of the time with them to sit and say some really good and meaningful goodbyes. We had a lot of coffee and hot chocolate over the course of a few days! We felt like it was a good time to have some closure with our time with the people we had been living and working with for so long. Our final evening in the valley was spent with some of our closest friends, who had also put together a really sweet book for us. They had gone around to the community, taken pictures, and had them write notes for us to compile in a book. We will miss our home and community dearly, but are so thankful for the time we were able to spend there.

On our way out, saying goodbye to Efrain and Caridad,
the founders of the valley

All throughout the last week, we spend most of our days finishing up projects and attempting to leave the building in a good condition for Michael to return in October to take over managing. We slowly started to pool all of our things in one location in attempts to be organized, and the packing really took place on Saturday. We actually weren't up too late our last night packing, which was somewhat surprising for us, and headed into San Jose on Sunday. After saying a few more goodbyes to people who are important to us in the city, we spent our final evening with Trevor and Laura. It was great to feel like we had a final "normal" evening with them, and hope that we'll continue to stay good friends in the future.

Our last night in Costa Rica, with Trevor and Laura

To truly finish up this blog, David and I have come up with a list of things that we'll miss most in Costa Rica. Hopefully this is a good reflection of our lives for the past 4 years!

-Bioland products (environmentally-friendly food and personal hygiene products made in CR)
-The Spanish language - speaking it and hearing it on a daily basis
-The tropical biodiversity
-Living in a cloud forest
-Not hearing any traffic on a daily basis
-The river that flowed in our backyard
-Thick green environments all around us
-Being able to drive only 2 hours and get to the beach
-Water all around us
-Earthquakes
-Delicious and cheap tropical fruits: mangoes, bananas, pineapples
-Fresh fruit drinks as an option in restaurants
-The ability to travel all over the country and see mountains, oceans, volcanoes, rainforests, dry forests
-Wildlife: monkeys, sloths, beautiful birds, diverse lizards
-Knowing how to run a good study abroad program
-Good coffee
-Laura's bakery up the road that provides delicious pastries and good company on the weekends
-Drinking water that comes directly from the mountain springs
-Our good friends Trevor and Laura
-The field work and excuses to work in the forest
-Our small community of neighbors and friends
-How Costa Ricans give preferential treatment to parents with babies
-The attention Adele received out in public
-Cheap public transportation
-Not being a tourist and enjoying nights of eating out and renting movies
-A good hearty Costa Rican meal at a cheap price-
-A close network of conservationists, environmentalists, biologists, researchers
-Being outside of distractions of consumerism and technology
-All of the many friends and relationships we've formed over the years

This is by no means a comprehensive list...but some examples of things that have been important to us over the last 4 years. And on that note, thus endeth the blog.

10 months!

Sarah: Today marks Adele's 10 month birthday. She now has 8 teeth and is eating (decently) well, climbing into everything, opening all cupboards and drawers and pulling everything out, and standing by herself for a few seconds at a time.

Adele looooves to make us laugh and when she knows she's doing something that entertains us, she'll continue it even more extreme. She enjoys hanging upside down, hiding from Daddy, and constantly wants to play peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek. She even hides behind walls and pops out and says "bah!" (her form of boo!). Her other favorite words are "mama" (of course only when she needs me) and "dada" (which she usually says as she's pounding on the window hoping David will look up from his work and notice her).

We are quickly rounding up our time down here and we will be very sad to take Adele away from her home! She loves it here and I am quite confident that the community here will be more sad to see her leave than us. :) Here are some pictures of her during the last month:

Playing hide-and-go-seek

Daddy time!

Visiting with her animals on the mural in our museum.

Mommy time!

One big happy family.

Chillin' in her shades.

A sad moment...

Sarah: Well, we leave in a little over a week to return to the States. Every day brings both sad moments and excited moments, both of which I think are healthy, and more of which I'll share in the week to come. However, I just experienced a sad moment and thought I'd post.

We have just been in San Jose for two very long days, training Michael (the new Field Station Manager) on more business-related items in the city. We are all very exhausted and couldn't wait to come home and crawl into bed after so much activity for 2 full days. Except Adele. Adele has been a great traveler, sleeping well in her car seat, smiling and talking to people we interact with, and not much fussing.

BUT...nothing compares to when we come home.

It's 10:00 at night and we've been home for an 45 minutes, and Adele can't be any happier. As I was checking my email I heard lots of laughter from the bedroom and went in to see the commotion. Adele was in her crib, finding all her toys and throwing them off the side, waving to Daddy, and talking non-stop. David said before that she crawled all over the apartment, pulling things off the tables, finding all her favorite things to get into, and still talking non-stop.

I love moments like these, but I also realize that this IS Adele's home. She knows it, and loves to return home. It's a sad moment for me to accept the fact that in a little over a week, we will be taking Adele away from the only home she's ever known. *sniff.*

The new guy

Sarah: Well, the countdown has begun. We are less than 3 weeks away from leaving our job here in Costa Rica and returning to the United States. More thoughts on that subject later!

As our time is wrapping up, SNU has hired our replacement. His name is Michael Guillot and he graduated from SNU with a degree in Environmental Studies, and graduated from the University of Houston with a master's degree in Cultural Anthropology. Michael spent 6 weeks down here at QERC back in 2002 and is excited for the opportunity to return to Costa Rica and take the job as the Field Station Manager at QERC.

Michael arrived down here at QERC toward the beginning of August, with the idea that we would spend 5-6 weeks with him, training him on everything we know about QERC and Costa Rica. Whew! It sounds overwhelming to me just to type that. We spent the first couple of weeks at QERC and in San Jose, going over building information, some semester program information, and meeting some people and places in San Jose. We even let Michael go on his own for a day in San Jose, to get him acquainted with downtown - much like we do with the students at the beginning of the semester.

This past week, David took Michael to Nicaragua to show him everything he needs to know about leading a group of students there for 2 weeks. David boiled it down to 5 nights, visiting all of our contacts within the country. For David, it was a chance to help make the connections for people and pass the ball from us to Michael, and also a chance to say some goodbyes to friends we had made. They had a whirlwind week with a night in Managua, a night in the remote village of Candelaria, a night at Rancho Ebenezer (both of those are where we've done previous homestays with students), a night back in Managua for some historical tours and information, and a last night in Granada to finish up like we do with the students.

David with his host family in Candelaria

Michael and David at Laguna Apoyo, Nicaragua

Adele and I decided not to go along for that trip - Adele had just spent a week feeling sick with a cold and working on all her new teeth coming in, and I figured some good rest and relaxation time was needed for her here at home.

While we are sad to be moving on from our job and lives here in Costa Rica, we are excited and confident in Michael's abilities to continue the QERC project.

Danta, danta, don'tcha want a...

Sarah: We have had some interesting experiences lately with the danta (tapir, in English). After the Point Loma group recorded the puma and the jaguar on their cameras, there was a large buzz in the community surrounding the presence of large mammals. In fact, just a week ago, a danta was spotted walking around the gardens at the Savegre Hotel - 2 minutes walking distance from where we are located. So, we put up cameras hoping to catch a view of the danta, and sure enough, it appeared that night.

Here is the camera shot:

Also in regards to dantas, not too long ago there was one hit by a car up on the highway and, sadly, died. However, Los Quetzales National Park, which has its headquarters up on the highway, decided to stuff and mount the danta and display it at their office. Today they brought the finished stuffed product down to the hotel and unveiled it for all to see. It was pretty neat - and Adele was intrigued by it as well!

Arsenio, from the National Park, and Efrain Chacon with the stuffed danta.

Adele wasn't quite sure what to think at first, then decided she loooooved the danta.

9 month girl

Sarah: Adele turns 9 months tomorrow! She is growing and changing and developing so fast that it's hard to keep up with her. She is super chatty, almost always happy, eating a ton, and is really teething, with 3-4 new teeth in and a couple more on the way. With her so busy and active, we have quickly found that QERC is NOT baby-proof. Adele has the gift of being able to find the chemicals in the laboratory, the cleaning supplies, and the tools in the storage room. I spend most of my day chasing her around the building. I have a picture of most of her other new tricks:

Adele is eating so much for meals now and I'm just thrilled! Here is one evening that she got so tired that she fell asleep in the middle of her meal, as David and I were cooking and the music was playing. I'm not so sure if this is a trick, or just a trait she gets after her Uncle Rusty Roth.

Adele loves to play in the most random places, as one of her favorites is any sink she
finds. I just have to stay right near her to make sure she doesn't turn the water on!

Adele can climb the stairs on her own now!

Adele loves to practice walking EVERYWHERE.

Adele can pull herself up on anything, and loves pulling all the
books she can reach off the bookshelf up in the library.

The girl LOVES to be outside - unfortunately with it being the rainy
season, sunny days where the grass is dry are few and far between.

Naturally, everything she finds goes in the mouth - bugs, grass, and dirt. :)

Large cats!!

Sarah: As the mammal research group from Point Loma was finishing up their time here, some exciting last-minute things happened for them. First, they caught a PUMA on camera! And second, they caught a melanistic JAGUAR on camera...in the middle of the day!! Melanistic means that their skin appears black, so the jaguar in fact looks like a black panther. SO COOL. The pictures are from their camera traps, set up in the forest. Check them out.

THE PUMA:

THE JAGUAR: (Click on the picture for better views)

Mammals

Sarah: For about 7 weeks this summer, QERC is hosting a group from Point Loma Nazarene University (CA). Dr. Mike Mooring and his family, and 4 research students, have been here in San Gerardo de Dota searching for mammals (primarily with an interest in large mammals). The research team is down to their final week at QERC and it has been fun to have them around this whole time.

Using a variety of techniques, the team has caught several coyotes and many raccoons on camera, and an ocelot on video. They have also hiked the trails extensively almost every day and have seen various signs of puma! By taking advantage of the local knowledge here, the group has also interviewed prominent community members to get an idea of what mammals have been seen historically.

As this is a pilot study, Mike will evaluate what type of work can be done in the future, and hopefully continue returning with a research team each summer to further the studies done on mammals.

Some pictures of their time here:

Caleb and Jared, hiking in the rain

Dr. Mooring, Caleb, and Bobby setting up a camera trap

Will, in front of the grand oak tree

Some of the group on a community horse ride day

David and Adele and me at a community Bingo

8 months

Sarah: Happy 8 months to my little girl! Here are some things to know about Adele this month:

She waves: It started as a slow-moving turning of the hand, grew in to frantic two-handed waving, and now it's a combination of both. We're not convinced she knows what it means, but it's cute and she definitely does it to get attention or in response to people!

She's crawling: A few factors contributed to this new trick. Carpet in the USA, and cousins who already can crawl and go after toys. All of a sudden, Adele decided she needed to be able to crawl to race her cousins Ash Ford and Benjamin Roth to the toys!

She loves to walk: With assistance, Adele shows off her walking legs by taking giant dinosaur steps all over. To wear her out, we'll take turns walking her all around the building.

She still loves to bounce: Are you getting the idea that this girl likes to be active? She loves to be bounced up and down all day, and giggles and squeals when that turns into being thrown up in the air by Daddy.

She has a new fascination with rocks: Ever since we let her suck on rocks in Colorado while we were hiking around to keep her distracted, she has decided she loves rocks. She loved to try to eat the rocks on the bottom of the lake in Spokane, and now crawls straight to the big rocks that hold our doors open at QERC when we let her loose.

She pulls herself up: Our days of Adele sitting still and playing by herself are over. If she's not going straight to the crawling position, she's pulling herself up into the standing position. We have to watch closely so she doesn't fall over and knock her head on the tile.

She can clap: Somehow along the way, her frantic waving resulted in her hands making contact and now she can (on occasion) clap.

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Vacaciones

Sarah: These past two weeks we spent in the good ol' US of A visiting family for our summer break. Instead of going to Iowa this year, we flew straight to Denver to meet up with my family in Estes Park. The whole gang came - my parents, my younger sisters Katie and Rachel, and my older sister Emily, her husband Greg, her stepson Hunter, and their son Ash. We had a great time all hanging out together, playing with the babies and spending time in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Highlights of the week include (but are not limited to):
~A short beautiful hike in RMNP to Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake
~Horseback riding in RMNP through Moraine Park
~Ice cream at the Y-Camp
~Church service with large windows showing the beautiful mountains
~A drive up Trail Ridge Road
~Seeing lots of elk and deer
~Watching a coyote
~A beautiful long hike in RMNP past Alberta Falls, to The Loch, and a long (but beautiful) journey back
~Evenings driving around RMNP looking for wildlife
~Cinnamon rolls at Glen Haven
~Whitewater rafting the Poudre River
~The little creatures - chipmunks, pika, marmots
~Time with family!

And some pictures from the first week:

At Bear Lake

An elk up on Trail Ridge Road

Emily and Ash and Adele and me on Trail Ridge Road
Professional family pictures taken at the Y-Camp
Ash and Adele chilling in the grass
The hiking crew at The Loch

The second week we spent with the Hilles, also for their family vacation. We spent the entire week up at a cabin they rent right on a lake near Spokane, Washington. It was a week full of relaxation, naps, being entertained by many kids, and swimming in the lake when the weather and water warmed up a bit. David's parents were there, along with David's sister Jordan, husband Rusty, kids Gracelyn, Gabriel, and Benjamin (and another baby on the way!). David's sister Jenna was able to come over from Montana and hang out with us for our last night.

Highlights from the week include (but are not limited to):
~Fireworks for the 4th of July over the lake
~Cooking hotdogs over the fire pit near the lake (and s'mores)
~The 4th of July boat parade
~Huckleberry smoothies
~David's nature hikes with Gracelyn and Gabriel
~Walking to get ice cream
~Visits from Aunt Karen, Mort and Terry, Aunt Dian and Uncle Laurence
~Watching the sky change colors over the lake in the evenings
~Observing Adele get smothered by 3 cousins who desperately wanted to hold her and play with her every waking moment
~Eating dinners out on the deck in the warm evenings
~Horseshoes and croquet
~Swimming in the lake (or barely getting in for some of us wimps who can't handle cold water)
~Family time!

And some pictures from the second week:

Gracelyn and Adele having a conversation

Adele crawling with Benjamin cheering her on

David throwing Gabriel up in the air

David, Gracelyn, and Gabriel recording what they saw on their nature hike

Hanging out on the raft in the lake

In the (cold) lake