¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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Bill occupied an office in the Socioeconomica section at CATIE. His colleagues all pretty much spoke at least some 'ingles' -- his main office mate was Eliecer Vargas, a 'tico'. Bill worked/studied the property rights of Latin America, taught a couple short courses, and worked with extension folk plus worked with CATIE regarding a possible joint Ph.D. program with Purdue. He also worked on a university project jointly with Purdue post graduate Tamara Benjamin. This involved traveling to Honduras a couple times to work with the farmers -- what stories Bill has to tell from those trips! It was great to have Jennifer and Monica visit in early March over spring break. We visited Playa Bonita, a beach in Limon on the Caribbean, and the Guayabo National Monument, an archaelogical site significant to CR. We saw a live, but inactive, volcano (Volcan Arenal) and walked on its 1992 lava flow; and, of course, the Turrialba/CATIE area. We visited Panama City early in April for tourist VISA purposes and for Bill to visit CATIE offices at the City of Knowledge there. The trip to Panama City also included a partial excursion on the Panama Canal! Peggy volunteered her computer skills pertaining to web pages (paginas web) while Samuel attended high school at Dr. Clodomiro Picado Colegio. A girl in his class group was striving to become an exchange student in the states plus there was an exchange student from Norway in his 'grupa colegio'. The weather was warm and mostly sunny in Costa Rica, although there are many rainy days, especially in Turrialba! The rainy season actually begins the end of April!! The toucan in the 'window' picture below was one of three that took up residence in our back yard for the last two months of our stay; they were always defending their territory from the 'other' birds in our windows! We met many new friends at CATIE that we will l-o-n-g remember, besides the wild critters -- you know who you are should you visit this web site! Besides not seeing more of the country, our only other regret was our 'un pocito' Spanish speaking skills! Everyone, please enjoy the pictures -- some are 'Hoover originals'. Be sure to check out the additional web addresses for more on beautiful Costa Rica.

Bill, Peggy, & Samuel with Humberto Esquivel & family (including father-in-law) in San Jose just after we arrived in Costa Rica! Humberto, Virginia, Little Humberto, & Marcela lived in our West Lafayette house & keeping Jennifer company while the Hoover's were in Costa Rica. Jennifer stayed home for her new job at Super Target.

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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Humberto studied at Purdue University - Forestry Dept. while Virginia kept busy with the children plus a new town & new friends. Thanks for taking care of everything -- glad you enjoyed your stay in Indiana!!

Flowers by Alex greeted us in our new temporary home! A view of CATIE.

Turrialba is to the arrow’s left in the map’s center (left of LIMON) just above CARTAGO!

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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Our 'casa' at CATIE in Turrialba, Costa Rica

Tamara Benjamin & Allan Esquivel’s finca in Turrialba Costa Rica – daughters are Sofia & Fatima Fatima’s 1 year birthday was celebrated at the farm with a luau (authentic hog roasted in a ground-dug pit with banana leaves & all) in May 2001 & the Hoover’s were in attendance!

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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CATIE’s Wallace Building – NO clouds!

CATIE’s Wallace Building –clouds!

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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CATIE Lake/Volcan Turrialba in the clouds <-> Coatimundis below

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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Blue Morpho Butterfly

Montezuma's Oropendola

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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Great Kiskadee

Sloth between our 'casa' and guardhouse Northern Jacana There are also Boat-billed Herons in Costa Rica along with the Crimson-fronted Parakeet.

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Purple Gallinule

Coffee fields

A rainforest view

Just learned of another beautiful butterfly = the Glasswing butterfly - check it out at http://www.anywherecostarica.com/flora-fauna/invertebrates/glasswing-butterfly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_oto http://www.rense.com/general76/glasswing.htm http://www.danheller.com/costa-rica.html; http://www.costaricaexpeditions.com/gallery/

¡Bienvenidos! Costa Rica Sabbatical JAN – JUN 2001:

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Weekly Farmer's Market such as in Turrialba, CR

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A toucan 'hola' from our back window! Aracari collared toucans were sighted in our yard – the last month or two of the sabbatical they were regulars – the male flying into the windows constantly!

Bill sitting peacefully along the Turrialba River below CATIE! Also found in the beautiful country of Costa Rica:

...snowy/cattle egrets, green parrots, tanagers, black vultures, 'mucho' birds! PLUS...opossums, armadillos, snakes and lizards, toads and frogs.... ...volcanoes, a national monument, rain forests, cloud forests, a Caribbean beach or two, (did not make it to

the Pacific!)...San Jose, towns/villages of all sizes, farmers' markets...Panama City, Panama....

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The Basilica de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, Cartago Costa Rica

Volcan Arenal near LaFortuna, Costa Rica (still a live volcano) & erupting!