A Trip to the Museo Tin Marín

     For about a year and a half, Gloria has been working on her own little Bahá'í school project, teaching children various things about good manners and virtues, reading, writing, etc. The children live in a low socio-economic environment in a little town of Zaragosa, which is about an hour's drive from the capital city, San Salvador, where we live. For some of them this is about the only educational opportunity they have. Even so, Gloria can only do this one day a week. She does this project in her little so-called "finca", or house, that she has constructed nearby.

     On November 8, Gloria brought a group of 11 of these children to an educational museum in San Salvador for an outing. The kids, 10 boys and a girl, ranged in age from 6 to 12. Her nephew, Oscar, and his girl friend, Kency, assisted with the care of the children.

     For these kids, it was the thrill of a lifetime. It could be compared to an American kid going to Disney World or Six Flags.

     The museum, called Tin Marín, is sort of an educational institution, where kids can learn all sorts of things - from how a volcano works to how to take better care of one's teeth.

Click photgraph below to enlarge.

Ready, everyone?

Boy, it was hot in there!

Brush every day, guys!

     They get to climb over a real fire truck, a railroad locomotive with a passenger car, and enter an airplane's cockpit.

The fire truck	Let's get on board, fellows!	Where's the fire?
The locomotive	We're clickin' down the tracks.	You're cleared for take-off!!
Tín Marín International Airlines	The emergency drill	Everybody sit down now!

     They are introduced to how a TV studio looks and works, how an oil refinery produces gasoline, and how electricity is generated. Telephone systems are interesting if you don't have one.

Action! We're on the air!	A panel discussion.	Oil to gasoline.
A sparkling repair crew.	Electric shock, perhaps? Doubt it.	What number should I dial?

     There is a large walk-through butterfly cage, with many species of butterflies on display.

Many "mariposas" here.

They're so friendly.

No, that's not a giant butterfly; it's Kency.

     There are many hands-on activities, too. They get to paint a car by hand, literally! They can play with some construction items that are similar to the tinkertoy sets of my youth.

I like bright colors.	Green hands; green car.	Hey, I think you missed a spot!
I wonder what I can contruct?	Look at this good stuff!	They show off their ideas.

     There is a demonstration of the famous Indian "bed of nails" where they can actually experience directly. (No, there's no pain.) There is a visual illusion display concerning gravity.

Hee-hee! It tickles!

It's gonna roll uphill.

Hey! I can't get up!

     They learn about how puppets are made, and they themselves can dress up in costumes and act out stories. They are taught how to make large soap bubbles.

I'm a frog...

First, you need some soap...

Who can make a big one?

     It was very fortunate for the kids that they went on this particular day as the museum was celebrating their 4th anniversary. So there were special activities going on, like a marching group of pretty young ladies, plus cake to eat and free toys given to the children as they left. Gloria prepared a pic-nic lunch that really hit the spot for a bunch of tired, but happy, adventurers.

One, two, three, four...	Take a number, win a toy.	I got a new friend now.
Umm... tasty!	Everybody say "cheese"!	Ready to leave! What a day!

     It couldn't have been a nicer day. As Gloria said to one of the little boys, "You are going to dream tonight about what you've seen today", he replied with a great joy in his eyes, "Every night I'll dream about this!"

--tt(11/10/03)