Getting into the Swing of Things

Sloth Seen on Drive from Port to Office

It´s been nearly a week since my last writing, and for good reason: the internet connection has been unbearably slow, which to you high speed connection users means ¨stopped¨. So how is it that I am writing now? Has the internet staged a miraculous recovery? Hardly.


Alicia the Cook

It so happened that of necessity I had to make a trip downriver to Puerto Maldonado over the past two days. Not to scare anyone, but my, hmmm, digestive system, has not been working as designed under the stress of local foods and, presumably, microbes. My very maternal boss suggested that I board the downriver boat and make a quick visit to the doctor to see if I could find anything out. The other option, ¨stay the course¨, as we all know, doesn´t really work very well.

My five day prescription of Cipro doesn´t seem to have made a dent, that after finishing nearly an entire box of immodium. This morning, on arrival in Puerto Maldonado, Ketty the office manager gave me a lift on the back of her scooter to the local clinic (conveniently located next door is the Santa Rosa Funeral Chapel), where I was commanded to give two samples: blood and stool. I didn´t have any trouble with the blood, but responding to the command for the other has been a bit of a problem, hence I am sitting at the internet cafe waiting for two cups of coffee and some food to take hold. Making it particularly difficult to come through with the goods is a 7 o´clock PM deadline.


Ketty the Office Manager


Anyhow, I´m not worried. I feel much better already and hope to be on a boat headed upriver to TRC again tomorrow morning. Whether my innards will have gotten back into the swing of things will be the determining factor, however.

If I shouldn´t be able to write again before then, Feliz Navidad to all!!