Panama

Hi there! Long time no see, huh?
I'm printing up a storm this week, recovering from 10 days of business-abandonment, and total vacation bliss in Panama. I had such a wonderful time that I don't even know where to start!
I do know that after working 15 hour days for a week straight, a vacation to a foreign country, in which every single interaction was a hilarious adventure - every busride a daring feat - and every bit of wildlife, a total masterpiece- was exactly what I needed to re-energize and get some perspective.
I looked a tarantula square in the eyes, played softball with a group of village men, danced in hose-water with thousands of Panamanians, hiked a mountain, swam in a river and later the ocean, navigated some seriously ridiculous public transportation, learned a little more Spanish, and snoozed in lots of hammocks. Met lots of amazing people and I think I ate my weight in fresh Pineapples and Bananas.

Now I'm home, looking at photos, wondering if it was just a dream. It seems like I was never gone, but I feel just a little more relaxed. Could it be that 10 days of travel gives you the right amount of patience to go back to your day to day? More Energy, when the whole trip seemed exhausting? I can't say for sure, but I certainly feel more focused, and less panicked about the large amount of work I have. Not sure if it's that I got to rest, or if it's that after sleeping on a cement floor and seeing how other parts of the world live... maybe such hardships as printing become that much less intense.
Or maybe it's just that I love my job, and it took getting away from it to remember?

Either way, an inspiring trip. Here's to five years in a business in which I can pick up and leave for 11 days when I feel like it... and somehow not get fired.