June 10, 2011

pictures

thought it might be time to post some photos of this country and what I've been up to. So enjoy!
we visited laguna olomega and we decided to make "little faces"
one of my favorite way to take photos of people is to ask for their "biggest fact" and then "little face". you get some great shots that way!


laguna el jocotal
it's a Ramsar World Convention Wetlands Site and we went there as part of our teacher training to show teachers how to do field trips and be more active in their teaching styles, specifically when it comes to environmental education.

web of life
same teacher training as mentioned above, and all teachers were given a piece of paper with a component - biotic, or abiotic - and then we "wove" the web of life, depending on the relationships between all those components (photosynthesis, predator/prey, water contamination etc.) and then talked about how one action can effect all components. really effective activity. one of our most successful.

laguna de alegria - a sulfuric crater lake
the line on the rock is from last year when the lake flooded. Most of the trees around the lake have been scorched by the chemicals and have died. It has left a very interesting landscape behind. We also visited this site as part of the same teacher training.

black sand beach of Isla de Meanguera
went on a mini vacation with fellow volunteers and a friend from the states to this beautiful island in the Golfo de Fonseca that is in between El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. It's a gorgeous, but 1 hour long, motor boat ride from land. Well worth the trip. We stayed with a family to save money, but there is a swank hotel on the island.

learning to make pupusas with a friend
I couldn't allow myself to leave this country without mastering the art of the national fast food dish. they're super simple to make - i think they are even easier than tortillas. and hey, if job hunting turns up nothing, I can always open up a pupusa stand in the states!

other black sand beaches of Meanguera

the pile of fire wood that my school uses to cook the school provided snacks
we are in the final stages of our fuel efficient stove project and with the new stoves installed, we will reduce the use of fire wood, as well as the smoke that issues from the stoves. more pictures later!

Monkey!
I can't not include a photo of her in this group. She makes my tough days less tough and my good days even better. she is becoming more and more well behaved every day - she is a year and a half old, and I think that's a big part of it. Currently kennel shopping so that we can start getting used to it for the big haul!