La Libertad--Cerro de los Tornillos

Nohelia, Alexis and I took a little day trip recetly to La Libertad, a small city near our home base of Comayagua. I was most excited to check out a place I had heard about that had some interesting fossils called "Cerro de los Tornillos" or Screw Hill. While it has nothing to do with teenage trysts, it is a reference to the shape of the fossilized shells that look like twisted screw shapes (See image). I was hoping to scout out the place before taking a class on a possible field trip there to do our own fossil hunting. I didn't know if it was a park or what, and I wanted to see for myself.

When we got there, the hill was literally right next to where the bus dropped us off (how convenient!). That also meant that it was smack in the middle of a neighborhood. There were some cement steps built to help visitors and residents up the hill, but there was no kind of protected area. We asked some local residents about the place, and they said even they would like to see it more protected. One woman said that at some point, an interested party tried to get the residents to sell their land so the site could be excavated, but the residents preferred to stay. I think it would be nice to have some kind of interpretive sign set up to explain to visitors what it is they're looking at and how it came to be. After a little internet research, the fossils are gastropods from the Cretaceous period.

The rest of La Libertad was not much to write home about (sorry Libertenos!!). We spent probably an hour and half poking around on el Cerro de los Tornillos, then ate lunch and came back to Comayagua. Since the place wasn't really set up to receive visitors, I don't think a field trip would be the greatest idea unless it included some other things, but it might be nice to come up with some interpretive signs as a class service project :)

Photo credits go to El Heraldo newspaper, which has a site on Honduran fossils (in Spanish) and lots of great pictures here http://www.elheraldo.hn/Otras-Secciones/Especial-Fosiles/Inicio Clicking on the articles section also has more info about the lack of fossil protection in Honduras.

Moon Rocks!

Ok, so it's been about six months since my last post and a LOT has happened!! One small update--I am back for another school year here in Honduras and this year I am also teaching an Earth Science class. I'm really excited about it since I was a geology major in college and it's one of my favorite subjects. One downside is that there don't seem to be many rock or mineral samples available to see in a museum or to purchase (hobby shops apparently aren't big in a country where most people are trying to just get by!). While looking for museum displays or places to take the kids to see mineral samples, I found out about a case of a stolen moon rock that has now been returned to Honduras. Check out this little interesting clip from Wikipedia!! :)

Honduras' Goodwill Moon Rock & Operation Lunar Eclipse

In 1998, a unique Federal law enforcement undercover operation was created to identify and arrest individuals selling bogus Moon rocks. This sting operation was known as Operation Lunar Eclipse. Originally two undercover agents were involved in this sting, Senior Special Agent Joseph Gutheinz of NASA's Office of Inspector General, posing as Tony Coriasso, and Inspector Bob Cregger of the United States Postal Inspection Service, posing as John Marta. This sting operation was later expanded to include Agents from the United States Customs Service. Agents posted a quarter page advertisement in USA Today asking for Moon rocks. The Agents were targeting individuals selling bogus moon rocks, which con-artists sell to the elderly and to space enthusiasts. What they received was a solicitation to buy what turned out to be a gift President Richard Nixon gave to the people of Honduras in 1973, the Honduras Goodwill Moon Rock, one of 135 Apollo 17 moon rocks given to the nations of the world. The seller of this moon rock offered it to the undercover Agents for 5 million dollars, a huge amount for something that weighed only 1.142 grams.

After two months of negotiations, this sting operation ended up in a Bank of America vault where the Moon rock was seized. The Moon rock was then subject to a 5 year civil case known as: "United States of America v. One Lucite Ball containing Lunar Material (one Moon Rock) and One Ten Inch by Fourteen Inch Wooden Plaque". This case resulted in the forfeiture of the Moon rock to the Federal Government on March 24, 2003.

After the Moon rock was officially handed back to the American Government it was sent back to Johnson Space Center where it was refurbished so that it could be once again presented to the people of Honduras, which happened on September 22, 2003 in a ceremony at NASA's Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe presented the Moon rock to Ambassador Mario M. Canahuati, of Honduras. Also in attendance at this ceremony was Joseph Gutheinz, the leader of the sting operation, who gave a first hand account of the sting operation to Ambassador Canahuati. Finally on February 28, 2004, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe flew to Honduras where he formally presented the Moon rock to Honduran president Ricardo Maduro. In 2007, Gutheinz, a past recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, was featured in the BBC Two documentary Moon for Sale talking about the Honduras Goodwill Moon Rock and this unique case. Today the Honduras Goodwill Moon Rock is on display at the Centro Interactivo Chiminike an education center in Tegucigalpa that receives hundreds of young student visitors per day."

Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rock#Honduras.27_Goodwill_Moon_Rock_.26_Operation_Lunar_Eclipse

"Spring" in Comayagua

While spring is getting into full swing over in the US, I just thought I would give you guys a picture of what life is like here in Comayagua with the changing seasons. Gone are the pleasantly warm, dry days and now we are full swing into the rainy season. Basically when I am not at school (where there is A/C) I am sweating and my not really all that warm shower feels EXCELLENT. During the "cold" season only a few months ago, this shower to me was unbearably cold. About 5 days of the week, there is a thunderstorm in the afternoon about 4 or 5 pm, and we even had a day with 3 thunderstorms in a row. It has been difficult to do laundry because of this :P The unpaved roads have been quite muddy lately, and on my friend's street, people have been plodding around with plastic bags over their shoes! We have been seeing lots of what my American friend calls Junebugs and what Hondurans call Ronrones... basically big clumsy light brown beetles that tend to fly into just about anywhere and crash-land awkwardly. Probably the best part of the season, which thankfully isn't nearly as wet as the rainy season I experienced in Costa Rica, is the fact that the mango trees in our backyard are finally heavy with fruit. Occasionally the wind will knock one off with a loud thunk. We can't wait to start making mango jam, mango chutney, mango salsa... Mmmmmmmm So there you go, just a quick picture of the changing seasons here in Honduras :)

Misty morning on Lago de Yojoa

Another cross-posting from the gratitude challenge :)

"Take a picture of one thing, person, place, or specific moment that makes you feel grateful. Share it with your social network."

Well, my camera doesn't work anymore (at least, i'm pretty sure it doesn't), so I couldn't take a picture specifically for today's challenge. More on that in a moment... I'm going to include one from a recent trip instead.



This picture was taken at about 7 in the morning on the edge of a river emptying in to el Lago de Yojoa. I was just setting out for a birdwatching tour of the lake with two of my best friends here in Honduras (Elisa and Shirley). I was excited to be out at that time of day... it reminded me of all the times I went up to watch the sun rise at Pretty Place in South Carolina... there's something so quiet and intimate about the mist rising up off the world when the sun first comes out. As we would say watching the sun rise, God puts on a different and amazing show every day. You just have to take the time to be still, be present and watch it. I'm thankful for anytime I can roust myself out of bed to experience this recurrent moment on the Earth. It truly is one of the most beautiful things that can be seen.

I was also thankful for learning about an amazing ecosystem during my day on the lake, and learning how different birds fill different niches on the lake. It was good to come to know Honduras a little more and feel like I could relate some of what I learned to the kids I'm teaching (out of North American biology textbooks that often seem very out of context). I learned so many fascinating things.

I was extremely thankful that day for the company of my friends and of our guides. I was especially thankful to have this picture at all, since I dropped my camera and it sank to the bottom of the (thankfully shallow and clear) lake. The oarsman got out and retrieved my camera (I was able to salvage the pictures from the card), so I would not even be able to have shown you all this picture if it weren't for his act of kindness.

So this picture represents a lot of things for me, and I hope that you enjoyed hearing about it. :) I AM SO THANKFUL for the people, places, and forces that brought it to me in the first place and also that got it back to me!

Taulabe Caves

A couple of weeks ago, Elisa and I went to check out the caves of Taulabe and had a nice time! We were scheming on the way back from our personal trip of ways to take our classes to the caves and to also plan the trip together. Well, after quite a bit of planning, we all made it back in one piece from the caves today! I was glad we both got to draw on our outdoor education experiences and incorporate some of the activities we had done at our outdoor schools into our program for the kids. We even baked them all cookies!!! A triple recipe = 6 stick of butter = really good sugar cookies :P

Anyway, I'm kind of "cross-posting" again on this block since I wrote about what I am grateful for on the trip through the "Gratitude Challenge" that I'm doing for the first part of Lent. Enjoy!

"Write about something you feel grateful for in your life today."

Well, I dunno about life in general, but I can definitely talk about today! We went to the Taulabe caves today with 5th and 11th grade, and I was grateful to know that the students can have this kind of experience with their friends and with their school. I'm not sure if any of them is nearly as excited about geology as I am, but I think it's important for people to come in contact with nature and I'm glad we did it.

I'm also grateful for the way my students took care of each other today--the 11th graders helping th 5th graders and even helping each other out when the cave darkness gets scary. Seeing Juan Carlos give Graciela a hug when she needed it was cool. Seeing Graciela be "mom" to the 5th graders was cool. Seeing the 5th graders be the first to step up and thank us for organizing the field trip was also pretty inspiring. I'm grateful that somebody's grateful for me/my efforts!

I also was grateful for a moment alone in the dark cave when I was picking up the little candles we had left and making sure everything was cleaned up. The group was far ahead of me and I walked back alone in the dark (or relatively so since I had a flashlight). After a day of lots of people, it was a beautiful thing to have a moment alone in the cave... it's a powerful place and it's nice to experience that without distractions sometimes.

So thanks to all the people and places that made today special!!

Museo de la Mariposas--La Ceiba

This is the first of several catch-up posts from my trip to the North Coast of Honduras over the Independence holidays about a month ago. We had 4 days off and we enjoyed them by getting out of town to explore the beaches and the coastal cities. La Ceiba is one of the larger cities on the North Coast and is known as la Novia de Honduras--Honduras's girlfriend or sweetheart, since it is loved by the Honduran people. They probably love it because people here like to PARTY!! While La Ceiba is not particularly known for its beaches, it does have a series of really nice nightclubs and bars that are all right on the beach--or have their own sea walls. You can lean over the railing of the outdoor decks and watch the waves roll in. I enjoyed the bars at the beach in the Dominican Republic more because they actually had nice swaths of beach to lounge on, but even just being close to the water is enough to make your night.

My favorite part of being in La Ceiba was going to El Museo de las Mariposas (The Butterfly Museum). A true DC girl spoiled by the Smithsonian Institute, I sniff out the museums anywhere I go, and I was excited to find something on natural history as well. The museum is run by an American ex-pat from Ohio who taught school for many years here in Honduras. He gives talks to school groups, and there are rumors of the 10th grade parents wanting to organize a trip to Ceiba... I might just get my students in there yet!

The museum wasn't just butterflies, and I learned quite a lot about central american and worldwide insects. One fascinating yet dangerous thing I learned about was the "kissing bug," in the assassin bug family that transmits a parasite responsible for Chagas disease.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease

Getting up close and personal with a live Hercules beetle :) Don't worry, they don't bite. He was happily sucking on a piece of papaya before we met.

There was also an insect unlike any I had ever seen before--the "peanut head bug." The elongated, lumpy part of its head is actually hollow, so essentially a predator could take a bite out of the insect's head with all its vital organs still intact.

I was also pleased to purchase lots of educational materials for the school there. I think it's important that the kids at our school learn more about what's available in their own country. Since it's a bilingual school, many of our textbooks are from North America and talk about things for which Hondurans don't have much context (one of my students asked me about fall and snow the other day). I thought it was GREAT that the butterfly museum had big color posters of different insects that were native to Honduras, and I bought a bunch of them. I also got a CD of birdcalls of Honduras and a CD-ROM of orchids of Honduras. It seems that folks are very familiar with the national symbols of Honduras (white-tailed deer, orchid, etc) but they don't seem to know much beyond that, so I think we will have fun learning about all this country has to offer together.