There is a piece of sardine resting in the folds of my scarf. I found it for it lay just beneath my seeking nose. I dealt with it covertly, gently lifting the scarf up to my mouth and scooping up the piece of fish with my tongue, before sitting down in seat 24d on flight 2819 to Panama. If I already smell like fish and I haven’t even left the country, I can tell this is going to be an interesting trip.

This has been the first time in nearly two months that I have had extra time/brain cells to write.  Even now, I question whether I really do have my wits about me or not. It doesn’t really feel like it, but I reckon I don’t need to be fully functional until tomorrow 9 am, when we have our first (of many) meetings with the Supervisors.

So we are in Panama City to give a symposium to the Panamanian Ministry of Health (MINSA), the Gorgas Institute, and the University of Panama on the findings from our research in the Ngabe Bugle Comarca.  After 2 weeks in Panama, I will be going to Guatemala to help a fellow lab mate with her study and hopefully learn Spanish.

I am happy to be on this plane and now I can relax. Maybe soon I will begin to understand the concept of leaving to Central America for 2 months. What have I gotten myself into and why?!

I send love (You send money?) (Just kidding! …. kinda)