In Hindsight

We are enjoying our last day in Costa Rica today, and feel that our last blog entry should back-track a bit….

For years, Vern and I mulled over the idea of traveling during his sabbatical year—a once-in-seven-years opportunity.  We had a number of ideals we wanted met:  to live in a biodiverse location that would inspire us as biologists; to immerse ourselves in a different culture; and to feel connected to a new community, to prevent the feeling of dangling independently in a new place for several months.  That wasn’t a list we could present to a travel agent, so it would take much planning, patience and prayer.  We wanted our sabbatical trip to be more than just an extra-long vacation!

When we travelled in Costa Rica in 2007 with the extended Peters family, Vern and I made a side trip to visit a biological field station.  We wanted to see if that was conceptually a good fit for our family for a sabbatical trip.  Costa Rica felt like a place that was safe enough to live with our kids, yet adventurous and filled with biological treasures.  The journey of planning our sabbatical trip began.   

We ultimately chose to come to San Gerardo de Dota so Vern could work with the Quetzal Education Research Centre (QERC) and the university students that come here.  As an added bonus, Vern was also given the time and space at QERC to do his writing.  In the end, he was able to write and submit a major research paper and small magazine article for publication, and start writing a 2^nd research paper.

The Quetzal Education Research Centre

 

I signed on to be Vern’s “support crew” for our adventurous semester, keeping the kids alive, fed, schooled and socialized, and managing the more-demanding daily routines of our family in a cabin with no dishwasher and a community with no grocery store and no vehicle to take us to one. I would have enjoyed doing some hands-on biology, but there wasn’t exactly a line up of people who could babysit the kids. 

Since starting at King’s University 7 years ago, Vern’s developed a heart for university students who are developing skills for their careers, and maturing and developing in character and faith. Our family had the opportunity to walk along beside a group of bright (and brave!) young, university students spending a semester at QERC, as they developed research projects, learned a new language, and were stretched culturally.  We experienced many of the same things as well.  And Vern had the privilege of teaching an ecology course to the students.      

Some of the QERC students and one of the other visiting professors.

Dr. Peters on a field trip with the students

We were surprised, almost daily, with the generosity of the community of people around us in San Gerardo.  Whether that was friends inviting us for supper, Mario letting a very excited boy fish in his trout pond, offers for rides into town, a shared cup of coffee and conversation, an impromptu painting lesson for the kids, an offer for a luxurious night away in the nearby city of San Isidro, and the list goes on. 

The kids giving Mario (who owned our cabin) his birthday present.  He loved having the kids around.

We could never have put all of these good things in place before coming.  But with a generous measure of faith and patience, we found our family immersed in a new community to whom we could provide encouragement, and who was a blessing to us.  Our time in Costa Rica was definitely more than just an extra-long vacation.

Thank-you for faithfully reading our family’s blog.  It’s been fun to share our 4-month journey with you.  We’ll be home late tomorrow evening.  Hasta mañana!