Drinking Water, Sea Water and Hot Water

Last week was quite productive as a whole. On Monday we had the opportunity to visit a water treatment facility in Santa Rosa de Copan. We had also previously visited a water treatment facility in Perth, ON. What was incredibly interesting is that both facilities use almost the exact same processes to treat water. The engineer that gave us the tour in Santa Rosa de Copan told us that they guarantee the water that gets to the taps of the homes of the city is safe enough to drink; they run regular tests. What’s shocking is that nobody knows this; people believe that the water isn’t safe enough and the majority of the population of Santa Rosa still purchases bottled water. How is this possible, having access to a safe product for free, but still opting to purchase it instead. After the initial disbelief over the situation, I was reminded of all the people I know in Canada that have access to safe drinking water, but genuinely believe that bottled water is somehow safer and better. Anyways, back to Honduras, I’m sure there’s another side to this story and there is a reason why people still feel the need to drink bottled water. But I do wish there was more energy invested in finding out the truth, and if the water really is safe enough to drink in Santa Rosa, which seems to be the case, create more awareness.

The rest of the week mostly consisted of continuing the development of our workshop. Towards the end of the week though, I definitely felt as though we were all ready for a break and could not get our minds off of the mini-vacation we had planned for this past weekend. Thursday evening finally came, and we could not hide our excitement! After a day of work in San Marcos Ocotepeque, we hurried home to prepare our luggage for our 4 day excursion to the beach!!! Five of the six members of our group left Santa Rosa Friday morning at 4:00 AM, destination Sambo Creek! We finally got there mid-day. After an exhaustive day of travel, we were overcome with energy and could do nothing else but run and jump when we saw the never ending beach that we had access to from our hotel. It felt like paradise. We even had a mango tree right outside our hotel room from which we immediately starting collecting mangos the minute we discovered it. Saturday was spent touring Cayos Cochinos, a group of 16 minuscule islands in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen water so clear in my life! We did some Snorkelling and saw some incredible coral reefs, after which we stopped on one of the islands for lunch. Our meal was fried fish which was fished approximately 1 hour before we ate it! After a walk around the island where we had lunch, which took no more than 5.2 minutes, we finally headed back to Sambo Creek. On Sunday, I abandoned the group and went on a little excursion on my own to the hot springs of Sambo Creek. Simon, my tour guide was absolutely incredible. He spent the day with me and we hiked in the forest around the hot springs. The actual going-in-the-hot-spring portion of the tour was preceded by a mud bath; talk about being pampered! I then spent the next couple hours stepping in and out of hot water like a lazy turtle. Like all good things, the excursion had to come to an end. When I returned to our hotel, a few of us walked along the beach for a couple of hours before a nice home-cooked pasta dinner. The day we were dreading, Monday, our last day, arrived. I spent the entire morning on the beach, walked one last time to the community of Sambo Creek, had a quick lunch, and as I was going to take a quick shower right before leaving, I discovered that the main water valve of the hotel had been shut for maintenance purposes. Without any other choice, we all hoped on a bus back to Santa Rosa de Copan around mid-day smelling like salt water.

Tuesday was back to work. I definitely felt invigorated and ready to work after a few days of relaxation. Only three weeks left in Honduras (AHHH!). Will we finish this crazy adventure we’ve embarked on and have a workshop by next Wednesday? I sure hope so!