Pancakes, Pantaloons, Pangolin, Pangea . . . Panama?

A lot of cool and interesting things start with "pan." So living in Panama for three months should be good too. The evidence is clear. Panther. Panettone. Of course, panic also starts with "pan," and I'm doing a bit of that at the moment too. That's probably unavoidable though when you're about to set off by yourself to a country you've never been to. And at very least it has to better than getting all the immunizations required to go to Panama. A flu shot, yellow fever vaccine, and a Hep B booster all together give you some sore, floppy chicken arms.

The title of my blog comes from the fact that I am disaster-prone, and much to my grandmother's dismay (Hi, Nonna!), the U.S. Passport Agency continues to grant my requests for new passports and additional visa pages. Here are a couple of examples of my previous travel mishaps, both big and small:

• Developing pneumonia in Argentina
• Getting attacked by a monkey in India
• Spending over two days with no bags in Poland
• Being hospitalized in Germany
• Having a monkey rifle through my papers and electronics in the Philippines

Okay, so the last one doesn't count as a disaster, since the only thing the monkey threw across the deck was my notebook, and not the Kindle he'd picked up a few seconds earlier. But the monkeys are still a major source of problems, and once again I will be entering their domain. There are six species in Panama, including the Panamanian Night Monkey, which just sounds terrifying. And monkeys in Latin America have prehensile tails, which I think increases their destructive capacity. Thankfully, I've learned from my past experiences. Monkeys are like the Amish. They don't like to be photographed. Also, they wear mostly earth tones. 

So Saturday I'm off to Panama. I've still got a ton to do before then, including looking up the range of the Panamanian Night Monkey. (Say that in a creepy voice, and you'll see how scary it is.)

(NOTE: For a picture of the Panamanian Night Monkey, which looks like cracked-out bush baby, click here.)