Goodbye San Gerardo

We said goodbye to San Gerardo de Dota early this morning and drove with the manager of the field station to San Jose.  Our lives are once again packed into suitcases.  Lots of them!  Space that was previously occupied by some well-worn items was swapped for things like Costa Rican coffee and souvenirs.  More than once while we were packing, Claire asked us if we could stay “just one more month” in San Gerardo.  If only life were so carefree that we could just decide on a whim to stay an extra month!  That’s a sure sign of a child who’s been on the road for awhile, for whom an extra month doesn’t seem very long. 

We are staying for two nights in an apartment at the Sendas Nazarene Seminary in San Jose. It’s bright and spacious, and very affordable.  And much to Claire and Caleb’s delight, there are bunk-beds, an outdoor pool and new friends their age here.  The university students from the field station in San Gerardo come to the seminary on their ecosystems of Costa Rica tour, so Vern spent a night here with the students earlier in the semester.  At that point, the missionary families here had invited our family to stay sometime.  That is our connection with this place, and we are happy for it. 

Right now, it is pouring rain (it as, after all, the afternoon).  The kids were undaunted by it, and put on their swimsuits and ran out to the pool with their new friends in the rain.  Heavy rain has now obliterated my enjoyable view of San Jose out our 2^nd story window, beyond the patchwork of metal rooftops and treetops that are closeby.  But the rain likely won’t last long; at least I hope it doesn’t last long, because I don’t remember where my rain jacket is packed!

We are here until after Vern has met with the director of the Latin American Studies program (as I described in my last post) on Monday morning.  Afterwards, we have a 4-hour bus ride to the coast.