Science Fair and Trujillo

Science Fair
Friday was my school's annual science fair. The whole school, preschool through 11th grade, participated with each class divided into groups for different experiments. My class had 6 different experiments with 2 - 4 students in each group. The kids worked all week making their posters, practicing the experiment, and giving speeches in English and Spanish explaining each step in the scientific process for their experiment.

The science fair was held on Friday from 7:00am-12:00pm. As Christina and I approached the school that morning, we noticed many large posters and banners decorating the school to advertise the fair. The interesting thing about the posters was they all contained Christina and my names (and misspelled Christina's on each). Upon inquiry, we were informed that the school had chosen to honor us at the science fair because they recognized all the hard work we had put in throughout our time here. It was quite an honor. At the opening ceremony for the science fair we were both introduced and given seats of honor at the front table. We were also given scissors and ceremoniously cut the ribbon to begin the fair. Then all the students went to their classrooms to show off their experiments. 3 or 4 different schools came to see our experiments. There were also judges walking from room to room and a crew from a local T.V. station. My students did a great job bilingually explaining and modeling their experiments for the guests but in between guests the kids would get bored and begin goofing around. During long breaks, I would let small groups go to check out the experiments in other classes.

These were my students experiments (don't you just love their little lab coats and badges?):
1. Causing a chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda to create enough carbon dioxide to blow up a balloon. 2. Generating electricity from acidic fruits and various metals. 3. Causing a chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda to create enough carbon dioxide to extinguish a candle's flame. 4. Extinguishing a candle's flame by depriving it of oxygen. 5. Comparing balloons of various size and shape to see which will fly faster and further. 6. Making a filter of natural materials to clean dirty water. The science fair concluded with an awards ceremony. First Christina and I were again introduced with a rundown of our educational achievements and awarded an engraved plaque (with Christina's name misspelled permanently). Then the awards for students were presented. Each winner got an Olympics-like medal. The balloon experiment from my class got 2nd place, which frustrated me because those were the students goofing around the most. By the time the judge came to my room, a few groups had run out of materials and she only judged two experiments. Trujillo
After the science fair, I walked home, ate lunch, and grabbed my backpack for a weekend trip. I was headed to yet another beach town, supposedly the most beautiful along the coast, Trujillo. Trujillo is situated on a sizable bay. It was there on Aug. 14, 1502 that Columbus first set foot on the American mainland. Afterward, Trujillo was used as a port to ship gold and silver to Spain. Due to numerous pirate attacks, a fortress was built by the Spanish but it did no good.

The other end of the bay's large arc is Puerto Castillo but you can't actually go to it's point as it is used as a military base. The base was built by the US military in the 1980's to train the Contras and the Salvadoran military; illegally funding their fighting against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador, respectively.

From my house, I took a taxi ride into town for 15 Lemps (L) ($0.80), a 2 hour bus to La Ceiba for 35L ($1.84), a quick taxi ride to another bus stop for 20L ($1.05), then a 3 hour bus to Trujillo for 93L ($4.89). The hotel I was staying at, Casa Kiwi, is in the middle of Trujillo and Puerto Castillo so from the bus stop I had to take a 15 minute taxi to the hotel. By that time it was 8:00pm and dark. The taxi driver wanted 200Lemps (L) ($10) which was outrageous. I bargained and pleaded but only got him to come down to 120L ($6), way over priced but I couldn't exactly walk in the dark. The ride was down a deserted road with no other cars or buildings and it was eerie.

At the hotel, I walked into the main cabin consisting of a large dining room, bar, and a pool table. I checked in and got my room key. The room, 160L ($8.42) per night, was basic: bed, shower, towels, and toilet. I immediately noticed a sign in the bathroom urging you to put your toilet paper in the toilet. They explained that the hotel has large pipes so it is fine. (I am fairly certain that it is not that simple and probably the inadequate sewage treatment facilities are the reason you can't flush it, not the size of the pipes, but I complied no less.)Back in the main cabin, I ordered a snack and had a few drinks while getting to know the others. I was the the only guest besides a retired US Navy man who had been there 2 months. He had recently come from El Salvador where he had laid pipes to bring water to a small village.

The other 5 people were employees of sorts. One guy was born in Roatan and had been working at the hotel two years now, two girls came from England and had been working there 3 months, a girl from Oregon whose boyfriend was stationed at the US military base in Comayagua (which is about an 8 hour bus ride away so I wasn't really clear on how she ended up in Trujillo) had been there 2 months, and a boy from Vermont who had been there 3 months. They all ran the hotel and got room and board for payment. At the moment, the owner had just left town to work for an NGO in Africa. They were all friendly.

I asked if there was hot water and was informed that it was plentiful because it was solar heated. This was vigorously confirmed by the navy man. When I got back to my room to shower... it was cold. I was already half expecting it. I slept the night peacefully until some loud birds started squawking at 6:00am and the room became too stuffy to sleep anyway. So I got up, washed my face (the water was still cold), and put on sunblock and my swimsuit.Then I went to the main cabin for breakfast. The whole cabin was open air with no walls but only screens stapled around it to keep out the apparently bothersome sand fleas. Everyone mentioned their annoyance and many wore baby oil as it was the only substance the fleas could not penetrate. They never harassed me. Being right on the cove, I had a lovely view while eating.Previously researching Trujillo in my travel guide, I discovered there was a sunken ship down the beach a ways that was great for snorkeling. The guy from Vermont confirmed the guide book and lent me a raft explaining that the ship was a little far out. Grabbing my snorkel gear, towel, sunblock, and water I began walking down the pretty and tranquil beach. After about 10 minutes, the sand on the beach disappeared and was covered with huge masses of dried sea grass and twigs with a few dead starfish (which scientists are now stubbornly trying to rename the more accurate: sea stars) lying about too. It was really odd, ugly, and hard to walk on as my feet would sink into the mounds. This continued for the majority of my 45 minute walk down the shore slowing my progress.I spotted the half sunken ship and continued walking to see if it the shore got closer to it. It was fairly far out. See that little black spot near the middle? I found a sandy spot, luckily, and put my stuff down. Then I had the awkward experience of trying to figure out how to swim out to it. The bay is very shallow and much of it is covered in unpleasant sea grass. The hotel had also warned me of various deadly and painful animals in the area: stingrays, jellies, and, the most venomous fish in the world, stonefish. This caused me to think twice about walking through the camouflaging sea grass to deeper waters.

Instead I laid down on the raft and swam, barely reaching the top of the sea grass. It was unwieldy and nerve-racking. This was confounded by the fact that I was the only person around for miles. I could not see another person in any direction and there were no buildings in this isolated part of the cove. I began to get really worried and paranoid. I mean what if something happened to me. No one would be there to help until possibly hours or days later when the hotel, hopefully, discovered I was missing and searched for me... but by then it would probably be too late.

Being a bay, the water was crystal clear and placid which eased the swimming but even after about 15 minutes I seemed to be no closer to the ship. Luckily I happened upon a sunken metal box and debris, possibly from the shipwreck, that was a great snorkel spot. There were many colorful fish, some were yellow with large spots on their sides that looked like eyes and I found one phosphorescent green fish. It was rad... like a firefly under the sea. Coral ranging in color from light blue to pink to white had also begun to grow on the debris.

As the ship was still at least an hour swim away, and my paranoia at being alone on the deserted beach heightened, I decided this satisfied my snorkeling appetite enough and swam back to shore. I walked back down the shore, through the dried muck, and laid down on the sand by the hotel. It was a rather hot and humid day but the water was refreshing and happily sea grass free. After about 10 minutes, I suddenly began to have a panic attack. I began to feel my insides tightening, got that lonesome faraway feeling like you are the only person left alive, started feeling nauseous, and my breath became short. The only causes I could attribute it to was the isolation I was feeling from the miles of deserted beach and uninhabited surrounding areas, the closed-in claustrophobic feeling emanating from the bay (granted it was a very large bay), or maybe the heat. Whatever it was my insides were crawling and I couldn't sit still or concentrate.

I had to go back to the room and take a cold shower (and it was still cold). Even that did nothing to stop the attack. The urge to flee was my only hope so I quickly packed my things and went to the main cabin to check out. This was about 2:00pm and the last bus for La Ceiba, I was told, leaves at 2:30pm. Luckily a girl from the hotel was heading into town and could drop me off, otherwise I would have been stuck there for another night. I got to the bus stop and found it didn't leave until 3:00pm. I got on and anxiously waited for it to pull out.

Once on the road with the wind blowing in my face, I still felt no relief. Not even the beautiful countryside could soothe me. I hadn't had a panic attack like that since I first came to Honduras in August and the reality of being so far from everyone for a year set in. Arriving in La Ceiba at 5:45pm, I hurried to catch a taxi to the main bus depot in town. There as I rushed to catch the last bus for Tela, I was informed it had just left. The bus depot is a big circle they have to loop around and return by the main road. I ran up to the main road, hoping it hadn't already passed, as I heard the assistant lean out the open door shouting, "Tela, Tela, Tela," to my relief. I waved him down and squeezed into the overcrowded bus. Every seat had 3 people crammed in and the aisles were stuffed but in Honduras they always find a way to make room for more.

I don't know if it was being surrounded by so many people or the fact that I was almost home, but I breathed a sigh of relief as the attack had passed. Once home, I was frustrated with myself for fleeing as I never got to see the actual town of Trujillo or the fort, which is supposed to be pretty cool, and I would probably not return just to see those. Oh well. By the way, as far as the prettiest beach on the coast hype, well... I hate sea grass. Tela's beach is much better.